Fourteen-man Sale in historic win
Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:43
Sale Sharks got their Guinness Premiership campaign off to a fine start when they scored their first ever win at Kingston Park, edging Newcastle Falcons 14-9 on Sunday - despite being reduced to 14 men for the last 10 minutes.
Newcastle, the bookies' favourites for relegation to National Division One, will look back and hope this game is not a sign of things to come.
Despite their numerical advantage, the Falcons failed to breach the Sharks' defence in those final 10 minutes.
Luke Abraham was sent to the sin bin, leaving the rest of his teammates to repel a barrage of attacks from Newcastle, but in the end their defence won the day.
England flyhalf Charlie Hodgson opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a great try, but he pushed the conversion wide.
All Black Luke McAlister then stretched the Sharks' lead to 8-0 after 20 minutes with a penalty.
Falcons flyhalf Rory Clegg added two quick penalties, before McAlister gave the visitors an 11-6 lead going into the half-time break.
McAlister added a penalty ten minutes into the second-half (14-6), before Clegg popped over a drop-kick to cut the Falcons' lead to 14-9 after 63 minutes of tight rugby.
From then on the Sharks were forced into a mainly defensive role, but they stood firm and held on for a famous win.
The scorers:
Newcastle Falcons:
Pens: Clegg 2
DG: Clegg
Sale Sharks:
Try: Hodgson
Pens: McAlister 3
Yellow card: Luke Abraham (Sale Sharks, 70)
The teams:
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Tom May, 13 Jamie Noon, 12 Spencer Davey, 11 John Rudd, 10 Rory Clegg, 9 James Grindal, 8 Phil Dowson (captain), 7 Brent Wilson, 6 Adam Balding, 5 Mark Sorenson, 4 Andy Buist, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Andy Long, 1 Joe McDonnell.
Replacements: 16 Matt Thompson, 17 Micky Ward, 18 Geoff Parling, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Hall Charlton, 21 Steve Jones, 22 Tim Visser.
Sale Sharks: 15 Mathew Tait, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Luke McAlister, 12 Lee Thomas, 11 David Doherty, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Sebastien Chabal, 7 JM Fernandez-Lobbe (captain), 6 Luke Abraham, 5 Dean Schofield, 4 Chris Jones, 3 Eifion Roberts, 2 Neil Briggs, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 Andrew Sheridan, 18 Brent Cockbain, 19 Sean Cox, 20 Richard Wigglesworth, 21 Chris Bell, 22 Rory Lamont.
Referee: Martin Fox
