Bath upset Sale Sharks, Bears edge Gloucester
PREMIERSHIP FRIDAY WRAP: It wasn’t to be for Sale on Alex Sanderson’s first outing as Director of Rugby at the AJ Bell Stadium as the Sharks slipped to a 22-27 defeat against a determined Bath outfit.
The Sharks never seemed to get out of first gear after first-half tries from Tom de Glanville, Tom Dunn and Josh Bayliss left the hosts with it all to do after the interval.
In Friday’s other game, Bristol Bears edged Gloucester 18-17 at Kingsholm.
It took Bath less than two minutes to get on the scoreboard after a bout of pressure from Bath inside the Sale 22 was capitalised on by Tom de Glanville, with the young fullback latching on to a Rhys Priestland pass to cross the whitewash early for his side.
The Sharks immediatly responded with a penalty to reduce the early deficit but they failed to get a foothold in the game early on as a rampant Bath made the Sharks pay for their errors on a freezing Salford night.
Priestland slotted a further penalty to counter the Sharks’ score, before Zach Mercer showcased the talent that has attracted french giants Montpellier after breaking the length of the pitch to set up Dunn for a walkover after the Sharks defence failed to scramble effectively following the No.8’s line break.
Sale did manage to cross the whitewash through Jono Ross in the 26th minute, but it seemed almost too little too late in the first half for the Sharks, after struggling to break down a determined Bath defence the hosts left the field for the half-time break trailing by 14 points.
The Sharks were the brighter side in the second half with bouts of pressure providing opportunity for Daniel du Preez to cross early on, but Bath had a first win in four matches in their crosshairs and did enough to hold on. Daniel du Preez looked to have set up an exciting finish when he crossed again under the posts with six minutes left on the clock, only for referee Christopher Ridley to deny the South African a brace due to a forward pass in the build-up from Faf De Klerk.
Despite a late try from Cameron Neild the hosts could only take a losing bonus point from the match but remain third in the Premiership for the time being.
The loss for Sale was their first under new Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson and denies the Sharks of a five-game winning streak.
Sale Sharks 22-27 Bath
The scorers:
For Sale Sharks:
Tries: Ross, D du Preez, Neild
Cons: R du Preez, MacGinty
Pen: R du Preez
For Bath:
Tries: De Glanville, Dunn, Bayliss
Cons: Priestland 3
Pens: Priestland 2
Teams:
Sale Sharks: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Byron McGuigan, 13 Conor Doherty, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Tom Roebuck, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Will Cliff, 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Jono Ross (captain), 6 Jean-Luc du Preez, 5 Jean-Pierre du Preez, 4 James Phillips, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Curtis Langdon, 1 Ross Harrison.
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Valerey Morozov, 18 Will-Griff John, 19 Matt Postlethwaite, 20 Cameron Neild, 21 Francois de Klerk, 22 AJ MacGinty, 23 Luke James.
Bath: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Max Clark, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Will Muir, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Miles Reid, 6 Josh Bayliss, 5 Mike Williams, 4 Josh McNally (captain), 3 Christian Judge, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Juan Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Ewan Richards, 20 Ethan Staddon, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Alex Gray.
Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant referees: Peter Allan & Wayne Falla.
TMO: Trevor Fisher
Gloucester 17-18 Bristol Bears
The scorers:
For Gloucester:
Tries: Carreras 2, Thorley
Con: Twelvetrees
For Bristol Bears:
Tries: Byrne, Heenan
Con: Lloyd
Pens: Lloyd 2
Teams:
Gloucester: 15 Jason Woodward, 14 Santiago Carreras, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Billy Twelvetrees, 9 Willi Heinz, 8 Freddie Clarke, 7 Lewis Ludlow (captain), 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Matt Garvey, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Henry Walker, 1 Val Rapava-Ruskin.
Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Alex Seville, 18 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 19 Alex Craig, 20 Ben Morgan, 21 Charlie Chapman, 22 Giorgi Kveseladze, 23 Kyle Moyle.
Bristol Bears: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Luke Morahan, 13 Piers O’Conor, 12 Siale Piutau, 11 Henry Purdy, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Andy Uren, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Dan Thomas, 6 Jake Heenan, 5 Chris Vui, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 John Afoa (captain), 2 Bryan Byrne, 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro.
Replacements: 16 Will Capon, 17 Jake Woolmore, 18 Jake Armstrong, 19 Ed Holmes, 20 Fitz Harding, 21 Tom Kessell, 22 Sam Bedlow, 23 Alapati Leiua.
Referee: Tom Foley
Assistant referees: Simon Harding & Simon McConnell
TMO: David Rose
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