By pitprop
September 27 2005

Nine visits to Vicarage Road, nine defeats. Would this trip make it double figures? An inability to close games out suggested that it would. Travelling fans could be forgiven for harbouring feelings of foreboding. Pitprop explains why the trip back was much more upbeat.

In front of a crowd of just over 7000, the two teams ran out onto a dry, firm, sunlit pitch made for running rugby. The London Branch showed a strong affinity for their roots, selecting three former Sale players (Dickens, Fullerton and Sanderson) to start and three (Cairns, Raiwalui and Lecter) on the bench. Injuries had kept Visagie, Richard Hill and the arriviste Farrell from the team, though Dimes had added the experience of Randell and Byrne with the lineout ability of Fullerton. The Sharks meanwhile had made just one change to the conquerors of London Irish, with Lion Andy Titterrell in for Bruno.

A look at the scoring table on the Offy will show that the difference between the side was Charlie Hodgson’s boot, kicking two penalties and a conversion more than his opposite number, the New Zealander Glen Jackson. Inevitably, although Charlie had a big influence on the game, kicking eight from eight for twenty points and with the ball in hand, it was not quite so simple. Read on.

Sanderson reintroduced himself to his former team-mates with a late tackle after 5 minutes, producing a penalty. Charlie duly slotted the ball home for the first points of the game (0-3). The pack was going well, with the first lineout throw-in going to the safe hands of Schoey, and the scrum putting the pressure on through Sheri. Schoey demonstrated how much the pack were up for this contest when an early ruck broke up with Vyvyan and him measuring neck sizes one-handedly.

Sarries worked their way onto the score sheet in the twenty-second minute, when Jackson found Sorrell running a straight line into the Sale 22. Seveali’i was on the ground after a knock, the defence was just sufficiently disorganised, and the centre had an easy run to the line to the right of the posts. Jackson duly converted (7-3). Sale’s attempted riposte was swift. Chabal’s tsunami-like running almost overwhelmed the Londoners’ defence before he was dragged down, and if Larrechea had released his pass a fraction earlier Cueto would have been over in the right corner. As it was, a penalty for offside in front of the posts after 26 minutes allowed Charlie another successful strike on goal (7-6).

Diamond had to start his bench rotation early, with Haughton having to leave the field on 32 minutes with a knock which allowed Adam Powell to make his debut in the GP. The rearrangement sent Scarborough to the wing and Castaignède to fullback. Shortly thereafter London Sale were awarded a penalty for dragging down the maul about 32 metres out, which Jackson again slotted (10-6) Two minutes later, from a breakdown between the Saracens’ 10 and 22 metre lines, Charlie sent Seveali’i running laterally to the right. With a hip swivel straight out of Presley’s stage repertoire, Elvis shaped to pass, came off his right foot, broke the tackles of Jackson, Scarborough and Sanderson and straightened for the line. His try and Charlie’s subsequent conversion put Sale back into the lead, 10-13.

Sale continued to press hards and were awarded a penalty from a ruck which was killed 2 minutes into first-half injury time, and Charlie’s boot garnered the points (10-16). Referee White played four more minutes of injury time before Sale were allowed to take their 6-point advantage into the dressing room.

Sanderson did not reappear in the London Sale line-up after the break, and the pony-tailed Seymour replaced him. Another seven minutes were to pass before PSA got round to changing the Sale team with a prop-swap, Stewart for Turner, and a minute later Wiggy replaced the error-prone Courrent. On 50 minutes London Sale were awarded a lineout on their 10-metre line. Jason White disrupted the take, Sea Bass hauled in the deflected ball, his one-man, tidal-wave running overpowered the defence and he crashed over for Sale’s second try. Charlie duly converted and Sale led 10-23.

Less then a minute later the lead had increased by another seven points. From a lineout in a similar position, Chris Jones drove, Sea Bass took it on, and Elvis, choosing footwork over body moves this time, deceived the defence and stretched over for his second try. Charlie’s kick made the score line 10-30, and Sale were seemingly cruising and playing in a near-silent stadium!

Diamond reacted quickly, and Cairns and Yates replaced Byrne and Lloyd on 52 minutes, and Chesney came on for Fully. Sea Bass, with an ankle knock, was replaced by Chris Day, and Chris Jones moved to No 8. at the same time. Within two minutes the London Sale substitutions paid dividends. They overloaded the left side and fed Chesney on the left wing. It seemed there was a reluctance to tackle with defenders standing off him as he bore down on the line. Robbo stepped in to make the tackle and Chesney reached over him to score. Jackson’s conversion made it 17-30. The home supporters found their voices and a little belief, and Saracens staged a determined comeback.

Taylor limped off after 59 minutes, bringing on Todd to partner Elvis. Two minutes later, London Sale pressure produced another penalty opportunity as Sale handled in the ruck, and Jackson duly racked up another three points (20-30). Saracens maintained pressure on the Sale defence which cracked again when they created an overlap on the right side for Powell to score on his debut. Jackson converted, dragging his side back to a three-point margin (27-30). At this stage, fellow Sale supporters admitted to various heart problems, which appeared a little earlier in the proceedings than in the Mayhem match at Kingsholm! Your reporter never felt that the match would slip away, thoughts were of the positive variety, we must get another score, etc.

The same thoughts must have been occurring to Charlie as he drove Sale forward again. London Sale fell offside again in a kickable position, and Charlie duly opened up the gap again (27-33). Nacho replaced Jonesy for Sale, Simon Raiwalui replaced the home captain Vyvyan a couple of minutes later, and Rauluni came on for Dickens shortly after. While the visiting supporters were hoping that their side could hold on to the lead for the last eight minutes, the boys had other ideas. From the restart Charlie gathered the ball on the right side of his 22 and shaped to kick. Under pressure from the cover, he flicked the ball to Cueto outside him. Frank took off like a scalded cat into the channel left by his opposite number. He made significant ground before a challenge came in whereupon he passed inside to the supporting Charlie. When the tattered remnants of the London Sale defence confronted him the ball went back out to Wiggy, who once again appeared in the right place at the right time. Wiggy timed his pass outside to the predatory Cueto to perfection, and he eased away from the increasingly desperate Rauluni, curving inward toward the posts to make Charlie’s job the easier. Hodgson obliged and re-established a substantial lead (27-40). It was Cueto’s eighth consecutive League game in which he had scored a try, equalling Chris Oti’s 1991 record.

The Londoners refused to lie down, and attacked again. With two minutes left of normal time, quick hands saw Scarborough cross the line on the right from a metre. The conversion would put Saracens within a converted try of the Sale total, but the burden on Jackson told, and he slid his kick wide (32-40). Sale showed maturity as Chris White took them into another four minutes of injury time. The forwards, marshalled by Wiggy, trapped the ball in a series of rucks on the London Sale 10 metre line, denying their opponents possession, opportunity, hope and finally life in this game as the ref’s whistle blew.

Sale had won an outstanding spectators’ game, their first victory at Vicarage Road. Hodgson had had a major influence on the outcome, his off-loading pass in his own 22 opening the way for a contender for try of the month. With Wiggy and Cueto, three English graduates of the Sale academy had manufactured the deciding try in this GP thriller. The pack held sway at the scrum, nicked some of Sarries’ ball at the lineout and hassled their loose ball. Schoey and Lund ruled their own lineout, beating off attempts to disrupt from Fully, and the forwards drove most of their possession successfully. In the backs, alongside Charlie, Elvis displayed his full range of talents, his attraction to the try line like a magnetic force. On the debit side, both Larrechea and Courrent made mistakes, and to yield four tries will result in additional defence practice this week for sure. Nevertheless, Sale were the better side, and it was reassuring to see them pull away when their opponents jeopardized their lead. Good too to see the foot on the brake when it was needed – shades of the Cheetahs’ pack!!

Your reporter polled the funbus riders for their man of the match. It was indicative of the quality of many of the performances, and of the different ways supporters view the game, when eight players were nominated. Cases could be argued for all of them, but Elvis’ two tries brought him a clear majority in the vote. Sea Bass, Lund, Jonesy, Titterrell, Charlie, Sheri and the Offy site’s choice Schoey all caught the eye, showing the influence attached to the forward effort by these spectators.

Sarries will rue a missed opportunity to continue their home hex over Sale, but despite their four tries, their systems (particularly the defence) showed too many lapses to guarantee them anything but perhaps an upper middle-of-the table berth come the end of the season. Sale will also reflect on the lost opportunity at their last away game. Had they controlled the ball in the final minutes at Kingsholm as they did at Vicarage Road, they would have gone into this break from GP action at the top of the table. As it is their four-try bonus point leaves them handily placed in fourth, level on points with Glos, and just a point behind Wasps and Leicester. PSA will take plenty of positives from the game – in particular the side’s growing maturity as they responded to and slapped down the challenge from their London Pretenders.