Full-strength Warriors tear Sharks to shreds
SALE SHARKS academy coach Neil Briggs questioned Worcester’s approach to this inaugural match in the new Premiership Cup competition.
Briggs saw his Sharks, containing only three players who began last week’s European game against Connacht, convincingly beaten by a full blown Worcester.
“We need some directive from the organisers as we thought this was a development competition for youngsters and yet we come up against a Premiership side that put over 50 points on Bristol,” he said. “We were shocked by Worcester’s selection so we came down here with nothing to lose. We did much better than Bristol but we couldn’t cope with their physicality, which was the deciding factor.
“We gave them a lot of ball to work with but I’m really proud of the effort, especially our defence in the first half as we had a backline all aged between 19 and 21.”
Aaron Reed and Gus Warr, both 19, looked fine prospects but despite the admirable efforts of Josh Beaumont and Andrei Ostrikov, Sale were second best in most areas against a side, who have now won five of their last six games. Warriors weren’t at their best with too many inaccuracies in passing and discipline, but the attacking flair of Jamie Shillcock, Josh Adams and Francois Venter highlighted the difference in ability of the back divisions.
It was Shillcock who gave Warriors an early lead when he raced through a porous defence to provide Adams with a run-in.
Kieran Wilkinson’s penalty put Sale on the board but the concession of frequent penalties and a malfunctioning lineout prevented Worcester from capitalising on their superiority. But two converted tries in three minutes turned the game firmly Warriors’ way.
First Francois Hougaard finished off a flowing move in which their best forward, Sam Lewis, and Farai Mudariki made key contributions before centres, Venter and Ollie Lawrence, combined cleverly for Venter to cross. The hosts suffered a blow when their Zimbabwean international prop, Mudariki, left the field with an injury after he had shown considerable promise on his debut.
Worcester’s director of rugby Alan Solomons said: “You certainly noticed him around the field but he’s suffered a neck injury although I don’t know the extent of it.”
Just before the interval, Sale had their best try-scoring opportunity of the game when Ben Curry burst through weak tackles from Callum Black and Matt Cox, but the flanker was hauled down just short to leave Warriors 21-3 ahead at half-time.
Two minutes after the restart, Sale wing Paolo Odogwu was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on but had returned before Pierce Phillips finished off a driving lineout to seal victory with Worcester’s fourth.
There were late yellow cards for Warriors Gareth Milasinovich and Matt Cox for killing the ball but the visitors lacked the creation to take advantage. Instead Matt Williams grabbed Warriors’ fifth try.
CLOSE-UP
GJ VAN VELZE Worcester No.8 V JOSH BEAUMONT Sale No.8
Van Velze had the better of the duel in the first half as his heads-up contributions helped his side move the ball wide to good effect. He also nicked a couple of crucial lineouts.
In contrast, the Sale man had more of a head down approach as he repeatedly charged into opponents but you couldn’t fault his physical commitment to a losing cause.
