Ford boots Sale to victory over Harlequins

MATCH REPORT: Sale edged out Harlequins 12-11 in an attritional contest in the English Premiership on Sunday, with England flyhalf George Ford kicking four penalties.

Ford earned all of Sale’s points, with Jack Walker’s first-half touchdown and two penalties from Leigh Halfpenny accounting for the visitors’ points.

The match was a largely uneventful encounter with few try-scoring chances and although England internationals Marcus Smith and Danny Care came off the bench for the visitors in the second half, Sale ground out a narrow victory.

Ford kicked the home team into the lead midway through the first half, booting another penalty to double their advantage

But eight minutes before the break, Harlequins were rewarded for a period of pressure when Walker was driven over in the right corner from a line-out.

Halfpenny skewed the conversion attempt well wide but kicked a penalty to put his team 8-6 up as the interval approached.

Right on the stroke of half-time, Ford landed his third penalty for Sale to send them in at the break with a 9-8 advantage.

Ford began to exert a growing influence but despite the introduction of Smith and Care, try-scoring chances remained at a premium.

A penalty from Halfpenny edged Harlequins in front at 11-9 with 10 minutes to go but Ford kept his composure to seal victory for Sale with his fourth three-pointer with six minutes left on the clock.

The scorers:

For Sale Sharks:
Pens: Ford 4

For Harlequins:
Try: Walker
Pens: Halfpenny 2

Teams:

Sale: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Waisea Nayacalevu, 12 Rob du Preez, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 George Ford, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Jean-Luc du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (captain), 6 Tom Curry, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Bevan Rodd.
Replacements: 16 Ethan Caine, 17 Tumy Onasanya, 18 James Harper, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Ben Bamber, 21 Sam Dugdale, 22 Nye Thomas, 23 Will Addison.

Harlequins: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Nick David, 13 Luke Northmore, 12 Lennox Anyanwu, 11 Oscar Beard, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Will Porter, 8 Alex Dombrandt (captain), 7 Will Evans, 6 Jack Kenningham, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Irne Herbst, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Fin Baxter.
Replacements: 16 Nathan Jibulu, 17 Jordan Els, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Dino Lamb, 21 Danny Care, 22 Marcus Smith, 23 Cassius Cleaves.

Referee: Adam Leal
Assistant referees: Jack Makepeace, Greg Macdonald
TMO: Andrew Jackson