Saints see off Sale in style
Northampton Saints cruised into the final four of the Euro Challenge Cup, after seeing off Sale Sharks 28-14 in Salford.
The Saints kicked off a wonderful weekend of European action with a convincing victory over their fellow English outfit at the AJ Bell Stadium to set up a home semifinal with either Stade Francais or Harlequins.
A dominant first-half display left Sale with far too much to do in the second 40 minutes after the 2009 Challenge Cup winners crossed for four tries, with three of those coming direct from driven line-outs.
Openside flank Ben Nutley scored twice for Jim Mallinder's men, with Sam Dickinson and Ben Foden also on the scoresheet as Saints put the disappointment of three straight defeats well and truly behind them.
The match promised to be far more positive for 2002 and 2005 tournament winners Sale when England prop Henry Thomas touched down with just five minutes gone but it was all downhill from there for the Sharks. Ironically, it was a line-out that provided the platform for their solitary first-half try, with Thomas stretching over from a metre out to give his side a dream start.
Nick Macleod sent over the conversion but Saints were level 11 minutes later after Nutley eased over from a close-range line-out. Having gone through the phases only to be repelled by a stiff Sale defence moments earlier, the visitors were rewarded for their adventure after flyhalf Will Hooley opted to find touch rather than take a simple shot at goal. James Craig claimed clean line-out ball five metres out and, when the rest of the Saints pack drove on, Nutley peeled off to dive over unopposed.
Hooley added the extras to go with the two kicks from two attempts from his last visit to Salford and Northampton finally had something to shout about having dominated territory for much of the opening quarter.
It was a similar story 30 seconds before the half-hour as Dickinson powered over after Saints had yet again chosen a five-metre line-out over a simple three points. It was an even easier score second time around, with the former Rotherham captain ruddering the ship as the Sale defence splintered yet again.
And things got worse for Sale just three minutes later when Foden latched on to Hooley's well-placed grubber kick to put Saints in command. And if the first two scores were built on brute force, the third was all about speed of thought and flight of foot, with Lee Dickson's clever dummy and equally impressive pass followed by a fine chip and chase from wing Ken Pisi, before Hooley's class set up Foden from full back.
And the first-half scoring wasn't finished there, either, as Sale's rolling maul deficiencies reared their ugly head once more to leave them with a mountain to climb at the interval. This time they could at least blame a shortage of numbers after Thomas was sin binned for a scrum offence just a minute before Nutley dotted down for Northampton's fourth try. The nature of the latest score would have been even more painful for Sale, though, as Nutley's second came from close to 15 metres out but looked to the layman's eye to have been more straightforward than those that had gone before.
With Hooley slotting three further conversions, Northampton started the second half with a 28-7 advantage and, although Sale pressed hard and went close through Russian lock Andrei Ostrikov just before the hour, the increasingly damp conditions made a comeback even more unlikely.
They did give themselves hope when yet another driven line-out led to a score from No.8 Viliami Fihaki but, with just six minutes left on the clock, it would have taken something truly special to turn things around despite Joe Ford's well-struck conversion and Craig's late yellow card.
The scorers:
For Sale Sharks:
Tries: Thomas, Fahiki
Cons: Macleod, Ford
For Northampton Saints:
Tries: Nutley 2, Dickinson, Foden
Cons: Hooley 4
Yellow cards: Henry Thomas (Sale Sharks – repeated infringements, collapsing the scrum), James Craig (Northampton Saints – repeated infringements, collapsing the maul)
The teams:
Sale Sharks: 15 Tom Arscott, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Andy Forsyth, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Rob Miller, 10 Nick Macleod, 9 Will Cliff, 8 Viliami Fahiki, 7 Mark Easter, 6 James Gaskell (captain), 5 Kirill Kulemin, 4 Andrei Ostrikov, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Ross Harrison.
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 Aston Croall, 18 Tony Buckley, 19 Jonathan Mills, 20 Michael Paterson, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Phil Mackenzie.
Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 James Wilson, 12 Tom Stephenson, 11 Fa'atoina Autagavaia, 10 Will Hooley, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Gerrit-Jan van Velze, 7 Ben Nutley, 6 Phil Dowson (captain), 5 James Craig, 4 Sam Dickinson, 3 Tom Mercey, 2 Ross McMillan, 1 Ethan Waller.
Replacements: 16 Matti Williams, 17 Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Christian Day, 20 Teimana Harrison, 21 Kahn Fotuali'i, 22 Dom Waldouck, 23 Jamie Elliott.
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), Neil Paterson (Scotland)
TMO: Ian Ramage (Scotland)
