Sale V Scunthorpe 6/11/16

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Sale welcomed Scunthorpe to Heywood Road on Saturday afternoon for what was there first visit to the club.

The pleasantries did not last long however, with Sale opening the scoring within 3 minutes. A five metre scrum to Sale resulted in a penalty which was taken quickly catching the Scunthorpe defence unaware and Gareth Rawlings was able to touch down in the corner to take Sale 5-0 up.

No sooner had the restart happened when some neat passing and quick hands by the Sale backs allowed Man-of-the-Match Matthew Simpson to run free to score under the posts. Captain Liam McGovern was on target with the extras and Sale were 12 points to the good within 7 minutes.

After the excitement of the opening minutes, a period of calm was to follow where both sides applied pressure that was punctuated with numerous mistakes. The quiet period ended in the 19th minute after twelve Sale phases resulted in classic ball through hands by the Sale back line with Jack Moorhouse finishing off in the corner. McGovern was once again on target with the conversion.

Another dour period was to follow, marked by numerous mistakes and scrappy play by both sides.

A period of pressure applied by Scunthorpe resulted in William Robinson darting over from the back of a ruck in the 34th minute. However, the action in the first half was not yet finished and in the 39th minute a break by Sale well supported by Liam McGovern saw the skipper go over under the posts and also adding the extras, leaving Sale 26-5 up at half time.

The second half started with a Sale scrum on the halfway line, after the Scunthorpe players were offside from Kick off. Two solid phases of play after a break from the back of the scrum saw Jamie Bache score in the 41st minute. 3 minutes later Sale were once again over the try line with Scott Briggs evading two tackles to score under the posts. McGovern grabbed both sets of extra points to put Sale in a seemingly unassailable position at 40 points to 5.

Sale prop Joe Kelly was yellow carded less than a minute after coming on, but Scunthorpe were unable to make the extra man count and Sale once again scored in the 63rd minute after going over from short range after a five metre scrum.

 

The last of the action came in the 70th minute when James Conville scored his 3rd try in his 6th game for Sale to mark a great start to his career at the club. Numerous phases coupled with some excellent handling by Matthew Simpson set Conville free to score. McGovern was on target with the extras once again, leaving the final score 52-5.

 

Sale Director of Rugby, Jonathan Keep said after the game, “It was anther great home performance from the boys today. We talked about the importance of controlling games and keeping concentration levels high. They executed both of these and it is a very pleasing 5 points. I thought all the lads were excellent, but Matt Simpson was the stand out player, always looking to make things happen and showing what an important player he is for us.”

 

Sale remain in 2nd place in National 2 North, 2 points behind Caldy and 3 ahead of 3rd placed Leicester Lions.