By Sarah
May 7 2002

Sale notched up their second great victory in eight days in Sunday with a tremendous win over London Irish at the Madejski. The Irish had the last word however, scoring two tries in a ridiculous eight minutes of injury time. Sale started well and were rewarded when Jason Robinson scored five minutes into the game. Charlie Hodgson had received the ball from Bryan Redpath and chipped towards the corner, allowing Jason to run in and touch down. Charlie got the conversion.

London Irish responded by putting Sale under pressure and, after an exchange of penalty goals, Michael Horak broke down the right wing and scored on the half hour. Barry Everitt missed the kick.

Sale secured the all-important half time lead when Sale, led by Redpath, launched an attack on the Irish line and Pete Anglesea found a gap through which he could score. Charlie did convert it.

London Irish were determined to even things up after the break and put Sale in a precarious position with a scrum 5m from our line. But Bryan Redpath's amazing form continued and he broke clear. Sale passed the ball through at least ten pairs of hands before Martin Shaw raced in past Ryan Strudwick for the try. Irish came back with a penalty to make the score 22-11 to Sale.

Chris Jones got the fourth try, beating off four tackles as he ran from the 22 to score. It looks he's making this a habit. Justin Bishop went over in the 66th minute for Irish's second, hard fought try and Everitt converted.

Bryan Redpath alarmed the opposition again as he kicked the ball into the goal area and Justin Bishop tried to gather it up, but ended up finding Charlie Hodgson. Charlie grounded the ball and converted his try.

Injury time lasted an overly long eight minutes and Sale's defence got more and more tired. Irish breached it twice via Glenn Delaney and Eddie Halvey, earning them the bonus point.

Sale team: Jason Robinson, Mark Cueto, Martin Shaw, Dan Harris (Mel Deane, 37, Jos Baxendell, 78), Steve Hanley, Charlie Hodgson, Bryan Redpath (capt), Kevin Yates (Barry Stewart, 67), Charl Marais (Andy Titterrell, 67), Stuart Turner, Iain Fullarton, Chris Jones (Mark Giacheri, 73), Alex Sanderson, Pete Anglesea (Richard Wilks, 67), Suart Pinkerton.

London Irish: Michael Horak, Paul Sackey, Geoff Appleford, Brendan Venter, Justin Bishop, Barry Everitt, Darren Edwards; Neal Hatley (Doug Wheatley, 54), Naka Drotske (Richard Kirke, 47), Rob Hardwick (Simon Halford, 47), Ryan Strudwick (capt), Jeff Fahrenson (Glenn Delaney, 58), Paul Gustard, Chris Sheasby, Declan Danaher (Eddie Halvey, 40).