By RK
October 17 2005

Special! One week only! GP action returned to Edgeley Park sandwiched between Powergen and Heineken cup games. Wasps are surely contenders for the title, so how would the pretenders fare? RK masterfully covers up his shameful absence from the game by inventing this report, with help from H's Dad.

Not so long ago, a ‘Monster Month’ would have been doubly tough for a Sale team blessed with beauty in the backs but seemingly never enough beast in the pack.

But now our Monsters Inc. have arrived, and games like Wasps – and hopefully Munster – are when the likes of Sheri, Bruno, Tam and Sea Bass come to the fore.

Of course, it was Charlie who would ultimately most of the headlines after kicking all of our 18 points – particularly given the presence of the man who could ease his England kicking burden this autumn in the Wasps line-up.

But make no mistake about it, this was the night when we finally showed – as Sue so eloquently put it on the messageboard – we are as big and ugly as Wasps...no mean feat given their pack features bruisers like Ibanez, Shaw and Dallaglio

Having restored some of the big guns for the must-win Powergen Cup game against Leeds last week, PSA unsurprisingly called the rest back in this time around, with Sheri, Bear, Chris Jones, Schoey, Tam, Charlie, Quates, Elvis and ‘Le Jim’ in the XV.

That meant places on the bench for Courrent, man of the match against Leeds, tryscorers Hanley and Todd, and a spot in the stands for hat-trick hero Ripol.

The atmosphere inside the ground was electric as things got under way and it was Sale who would edge in front after an intense opening, with Charlie slotting over a penalty after Shaw had been pinged – not for the last time – for an offence at the line-out.

The lead lasted just fine minutes, though, as Mark Van Gisbergen knocked over a penalty of his own – and when Tam departed to the sin-bin for killing the ball there were plenty of nervous glances between the Sharks fans in the near-10,000 crowd.

Yet rather than weaken Sale’s resolve, being down to 14 men seemed to push them on to greater heights and by the time Tam got his hands back on the ball, Charlie had kicked two more penalties to give us a 9-3 lead.

Quite how Wasps still had their full complement remains a mystery – with O’Connor and Dallaglio particularly lucky to avoid a spell in the bin – yet their luck ran out on the verge of half-time as Shaw transgressed once too many, getting a yellow card for his troubles and then seeing Charlie push us out to 12-3 in front.

The interval had little effect on the Sale performance as they began the second half just as dominantly as they had finished the first, yet it was Wasps who scored the first points of the half as Josh Lewsey burst from the back of a ruck to score an excellent try which Van Gisbergen converted. Despite all the dominance, Sale led by just one.

But then came a moment that will live long in the memory of all those who saw it.

Another brutal piece of scrummaging from the Sale pack saw Wasps pinged. Sea Bass grabbed the ball and made a run as if to take a quick penalty and Dallaglio and Co were immediately up on their toes ready to receive the onslaught.

At this point Sea Bass reached the spot where the penalty had been given and neatly placed the ball on the ground. But his work was not done. Seeing the Wasps waiting he arced his run before slowing to a walk, glaring contemptuously at his opponents.

The message was clear: “This is my territory, I do what I like.”

The Cheadle End rose to their feet to roar their approval – in the play-offs last year, Wasps had managed to needle Sea Bass. This time, it was him teasing them.

When the cheering died down and the Wasps and Sea Bass retreated to their separate sides, Charlie slotted over the penalty to stretch the lead to 15-10.

Then came Magnus Lund’s moment in the sun, or should that be autumnal moonlight, as he forced Van Gisbergen to hold on in front of the posts. The reaction of his pack mates – six of whom slapped him heartily on the back – told their own story.

Charlie slotted the penalty and Sale led 18-10 with six minutes left. Game over.

For the second successive week, PSA uttered the phrase “very pleased” post-match, but there was something very different about this one – a win that took us to the top of the table as Leicester escaped with a draw from their clash with Newcastle.

After years of winning with beauty, Sale’s beasts had shown they could execute another gameplan by dominating the three-time champions up front.

The international weeks will be the litmus test of the strength of this squad but judging on this performance maybe, just maybe, this could be our year…