By Whaley Shark
November 2 2014

Bit of a funny one this- a tight game with four tries each, and Sale nicking it at the end, but lacking a certain something. Maybe that’s because it’s the LV= Cup, definitely the least of the three competitions we’re involved in? But this is what went on…..

Our forwards showed their competitiveness from the off, rolling 40 metres after taking the Wasps kick-off, to win a kickable penalty and give us a 3-0 lead almost straight away. As we sat back, thinking this was going to be an easy afternoon, Wasps showed it wasn’t, breaking our defensive line in midfield, running through a series of phases in our 22 before lock Will Rowlands battered his way over. 3-7 after 5 minutes, and Wasps were clearly not just going to be brushed aside.

The half continued like that, with tit-for-tat tries. Alberto de Marchi scored his first Sale try after a 5 m lineout. We spun the ball right, then left and created a huge overlap on the left, which he happily exploited. The next ten minutes, in which we exerted a lot of pressure, yielded no points though, and defensive weakness gave Wasps a try from a lineout on their ten metre line, as a missed tackle allowed them to set Will Helu free, and he outpaced our defence over 40 metres. We continued to attack, though, and a loose Wasps clearance led to sustained pressure in the Wasps 22 and a well-worked try for Josh Beaumont. The final score of the half went to Wasps, well worked from a lineout 10 metres from our line, followed by extended pressure and, eventually, Will Helu’s second try of the match. The last few minutes of the half were pretty even, and we went in for half time 17-19 down.

I suspect the Sale team talk was a bit more focused than ours in the stand (apple cake and Strictly!), and we opened the scoring with an early try. Phil MacKenzie got away from a lineout 35 metres out and, while Wasps stopped him a few metres short, Viliami Fihaki was able to pick up the pieces and cross on the right.

A scoreless 20 minutes then took the game into the final quarter before a neat break by Sam James from the Wasps 10 metre line let Charlie Ingall score our fourth try and gave us our biggest lead of the afternoon, 29-19. Wasps came right back to tie the scores though, as defensive brain fade gave them a soft try from the restart and, a few minutes later, we conceded a scrum penalty on our 22. With ten minutes to go, and the game balanced at 29-all, captain Dan Braid showed what he was made of. He made a couple of powerful runs which steadied the ship. The last one took us to within a few metres of the Wasps line and their defensive jitters gave us a penalty which Nick Macleod slotted for a 32-29 lead. With just four minutes on the clock, Wasps started to throw caution to the winds but a loose pass went into touch and we retained possession well to see out the game.

It was an entertaining game, which lacked the tension of the AP and that maybe contributed to both sides’ willingness to chuck the ball about. Those of our players who haven’t seen much action so far this season looked a bit rusty, but the forwards went well and the lineout was much less problematic than in recent weeks. Special mention for Dan Braid, whose experience and leadership, in my view, let us close this one out successfully.