Sale’s mean machine cranks into top gear

By GARY FITZGERALD

Sale ………………..26pts

Tries: J-L du Preez 12, Yarde 17, Van Rensburg 29, Curry 42

Conversions: McGinty 13, 30, 43

Wasps …………….18pts

Tries: Bassett 4, Gopperth 80

Conversions: Gopperth 80

Penalties: Gopperth 15, 48

AJ McGinty admits Sharks must become “a mean bunch” to prove they can still be realistic title contenders.

The fly-half produced a cracking festive performance, pulling the strings and running the show, as Sale overcame rustiness in their first Premiership game since the end of November to sweep Wasps aside.

Jean-Luc du Preez, Marland Yarde, Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Ben Curry crossed for tries as the hosts celebrated a bonus-point win – only their fourth victory in 11 Premiership games.

While Sale were far the better team they still struggled to put the game to bed and Wasps showed plenty of fighting spirit in the second half to keep it alive.

And McGinty, who kicked three conversions, said: “We wanted to start 2022 with a good, strong win, and I think we managed that. We were very clinical in the first half.

“We are very happy with this win because we have not played much rugby over the last two months and there were a lot of tired legs in the second half.

“It’s been a tough spell because of the lack of continuity of games, but we have to put up with it. Even this week we’ve had covid cases.

“It’s just like Covid roulette to see who is lucky and who is not lucky to be available to play.

“We want to be a mean bunch and be hard to play against. We also want to play entertaining rugby while scoring plenty of tries. We could have had another 14 points on the board here at least.

“Wasps were resilient. They have a lot of firepower in attack and caused us a lot of problems. They work hard for each other and we had to match them in the second half.”

Sharks certainly looked off the pace early on as their rivals crossed for an opening try after just four minutes when the ball was moved along the Wasps backs and Ali Crossdale finally fed wing Josh Bassett to surge over untouched.

But it did not take too long for the men in blue to find their rhythm and power, and the Sale pack took control of the game in a dominating half hour of play which saw them grab three tries and have another ruled out.

No.8 powerhouse Du Preez showed his strength and determination to finish off a switch-move from a scrum which caught out the Wasps defence.

The South African reached out a long arm to ground the ball and McGinty added the extras. He missed his next conversion attempt after a rapid Sharks assault saw Yarde dash over in the left hand corner and get the ball down before being tackled into touch.

Impressive centre Van Rensburg forced his way over for the third try as Wasps’ defence began to fall apart and struggle to cope with the physicality.

Wasps youngster Alfie Barbeary left the field after a blow to a head from van Rensburg’s knee.

The forward, hoping to impress the watching Eddie Jones, returned after the break having passed his HIA.

Flanker Curry snaffled a poor line out throw from Wasps near their own line to reach out and claim Sale’s bonus-point try.

But the expected home side onslaught failed to materialise and Sale had prop Coenie Oosterhuizen sin-binned for an off-theball tackle.

But Wasps could not penetrate the thick blue defensive line until the death when Jimmy Gopperth crossed for his side’s second try, and Sale celebrated the victory.