Gloucester Beat Sale in Semi's


Well Played

By Cherrybomb
June 2 2002

Gloucester produced a spirited display in a game which was poor to the spectator, but the power in the forwards ripped Sale apart and Gloucester finished the game on a high to secure a 33-11 victory, putting Gloucester into a Twickenham final against Bristol. The tiredness of both teams after the long season showed, and most of the match was dominated by mistakes and slip ups. Where Gloucester really excelled was up front and in the scrum, where our front five forced the squeeze onto the weak Sale pack often turning over the opposition scrum. Ludo again was on fine form with the boot, never missing a kick over the posts, and place kicking perfectly when the Gloucester line seamed to run out of ideas.

There was quite a big crowd considering the England match was on, and many Gloucester fans chose to get their place in the stadium rather than watch England draw 1-1 against Sweden.They were there to cheer their team on to a final after the semi defeat at the hands of Sale in the Parker Pen semi. Finally Gloucester have a great chance of bringing home some silverware, and with west-country rivals Bristol the opposition in the final Saturday will surely be a great day out.

The game started scrappily, with mistakes and knock-on's regular, but already the Gloucester pack were dominating the scrum and turning over ball. Mercier put the first points on the board with a penalty, and soon after that we increased our lead through a Koli Sewabu try, when he powered forward from a ruck and managed to squeeze the ball over the line. Mercier converted to give Gloucester a deserved 10 points lead.

Hodgson put a penalty over to bring the home side back within range, but Mercier again showed the goods to keep the 10 point lead. 2 more penalties and a well controlled drop goal put Gloucester into the second half with a 16 point lead, and dreams of a final at HQ more realistic.

In the second half Sale looked much better, and kept possesion for most of the half. Their attempted comeback began with a Hodgson penalty, and they came within range after some magic from Jason Robinson released Cueto to score in the corner, despite the best efforts of Daren O'Leary to prevent the score. Unfortunately for Sale, Hodgson missed the conversion, which meant they still had to score twice to take the lead.

Gloucester needed to sort the loose attack out, and they put the game beyond Sale when Andy Gomarsall scored a typical Gommars try by dummying from the back of the scrum and roaring through the gap to score. The try was almost disallowed because of his foot nearly touching the line that marks the end of the dead-ball area, but his scrambling effort to stay in paid off to round up a fantastic season for Andy. Mercier again converted the simple kick.

To seal the win Gloucester punished a Sale mistake when Tom Beim latched onto a loose pass and stormed passed the last defender to score, sending Gloucester into an interesting final against Bristol, who narrowly beat Northampton on Saturday.

Final Score: Gloucester 33 - 11 Sale

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