Exiles bust the Sale dam wall
Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:28
Sale Sharks, the first team to go four Guinness Premiership matches without conceding a try, had their defensive wall well and truly busted by an impressive London Irish outfit, which ran in four tries in a 28-6 win at the Madejski Stadium on Wednesday.
The result sees the Exiles move up to fifth position on the standings, while the Sharks drop from top spot to third behind arch rivals Leicester Tigers and the new leaders Bath.
Former Waratahs fullback Peter Hewat and England pivot Charlie Hodgson traded penalties, before flank Richard Thorpe crossed the whitewash after 38 minutes for the only five pointer of the first-half.
That meant the Sharks had gone 358 minutes in the Premiership without conceding a try.
Hodgson brought the Guinness Premiership's top placed side within five points (11-6) with a penalty seconds before the break.
Hewat extended their lead to 16-6 with a valuable try 12 minutes into the second period, as Irish started to hit top gear.
Big prop Alex Corbisiero crashed over for the host's third try on 61 minutes, for a 23-6 advantage.
And left wing Sailosi Tagicakibau rounded off an impressive second-half performance, for Irish's bonus point try, to hand high flying Sale a rare defeat.
The scorers:
For London Irish:
Tries: Thorpe, Hewat, Corbisiero, Tagicakibau
Con: Hewat
Pen: Hewat
DG: Hewat
For Sale Sharks:
Pens: Hodgson 2
Yellow card: Chris Bell (Sale Sharks, 37)
Teams:
London Irish: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Elvis Seveali'i, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Peter Hewat, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Chris Hala'ufia, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Richard Thorpe, 5 Bob Casey (captain), 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Tonga Lea'aetoa, 2
Danie Coetzee, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Faan Rautenbach, 17 David Paice, 18 Dan Murphy, 19 Gary Johnson, 20 Declan Danaher, 21 Peter Richards, 22 Eoghan Hickey.
Sale Sharks: 15 Mathew Tait, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Chris Bell, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 David Doherty, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe (captain), 6 Kristian Ormsby, 5 Sean Cox, 4 Dean Schofield, 3 Stuart Turner, 2 Neil Briggs, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements: 16 Sebastien Bruno, 17 Eifion Roberts, 18 Jason White, 19 Luke Abrahams, 20 Richard Wigglesworth, 21 Lee Thomas, 22 Rory Lamont.
Referee: Ashley Rowden
