Winless Warriors scare Sharks
PREMIERSHIP REPORT: Sale Sharks survived a second-half scare as they overcame a spirited Worcester Warriors side 21-15 at the AJ Bell for their first win of the season.
Tries from Josh Beaumont and Denny Solomona put Sale 18-0 up after a dominant first 40 minutes, but Worcester started the brighter after the break.
They responded through Bryce Heem and Chris Pennell, though some resolute Sharks defending protected their six-point lead.
Sale made two changes to the side that were beaten 51-23 by London-side Harlequins on the first day of the season, as Beaumont came into the back row and Mark Jennings returned to the side at centre, while Worcester also shuffled the pack as they made three changes to the team that lost to Wasps.
The Sharks started the brighter of the two, piling on the pressure on the slow-starting Warriors side, as AJ MacGinty put Sale ahead within five minutes from underneath the posts.
Sharks forward Beaumont then extended his side’s lead after picking up Marland Yarde’s lay off down Worcester’s exposed right flank and going over in the corner.
Undeterred by the referee’s decision to rule out a potential try, Sale responded through MacGinty as he sent a penalty over from the 10-metre line just minutes later.
It’s a first win of the season for @SaleSharksRugby 👏👏👏
But it was far from easy against a dogged @WorcsWarriors 💥#GallagherPrem #SALvWOR pic.twitter.com/GtpLunkQrL
ADVERTISEMENT— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) September 9, 2018
Worcester was punished further after a loose pass was collected by Solomona, who sprinted from his own half to extend Sale’s lead, with MacGinty adding a further two points to give Sale an 18-0 advantage going into the second half.
After the restart, Warriors went straight on the attack. Working it in from the corner, Heem ghosted through the Sale defence, scoring right underneath the posts to give Duncan Weir the opportunity to reduce Sale’s lead to 11 points.
Building on their lead, Weir added a further three points to Worcester’s tally, but Sharks responded immediately as MacGinty converted from just inside the Warriors 10-metre line.
Worcester did not lose momentum, however, as full-back Pennell went over after a patient Warriors attack, but Sharks defended well in the last 15 minutes to protect their lead.
The scorers:
For Sale Sharks:
Tries: Beaumont, Solomona
Con: MacGinty
Pens: MacGinty 3
For Worcester Warriors:
Tries: Heem, Pennell
Con: Weir
Pen: Weir
Teams:
Sale Sharks: 15 Byron McGuigan, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Sam James, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Will Cliff, 8 Josh Beaumont, 7 Ben Curry, 6 Jono Ross (captain), 5 James Phillips, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 WillGriff John, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Ross Harrison.
Replacements: 16 Cameron Neild, 17 Alexandru Tarus, 18 Joe Jones, 19 George Nott, 20 Josh Strauss, 21 Gus Warr, 21 Luke James, 23 Paolo Odogwu.
Worcester: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Bryce Heem, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Jonny Arr, 8 GJ van Velze (captain), 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Marco Mama, 5 Darren Barry, 4 Pierce Phillips, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Niall Annett, 1 Callum Black.
Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Ryan Bower, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 Andrew Kitchener, 20 Alafoti Faosiliva, 21 Michael Heaney, 22 Jono Lance, 23 Ashley Beck.
Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant referees: Hamish Smales, Paul Dix
TMO: Keith Lewis
Source: @premrugby
Phew! Well, that was certainly a high-scoring weekend 🏉🏉🏉🏉🏉
Six enthralling matches and Round 2 of #GallagherPrem is in the books – what did you learn from the weekend? 🤔
📺 Make sure you catch all the highlights on @channel5_tv at 8pm on Monday night pic.twitter.com/bL82E5IQpH
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) September 9, 2018
