Rob Du Preez in charge as Sale Sharks dominate

By Luke Jarmyn

Sale Sharks ………………… 43pts

Tries: Reed 4, 21; Penalty 28, Addison 35, Roebuck 44, 71

Conversions: R du Preez 5, 22, 36, 45

Penalty: R du Preez 55

Newcastle Falcons …….. 10pts

Try: Chick 48

Conversion: Grayson 49

Penalty: Grayson 14

Rob du Preez put in a playmaking masterclass to show that while England may worry for the Autumn internationals due to George Ford’s injury absence, Sale Sharks have no such concerns.

The 31-year-old one-cap Springbok once more belied his international appearances figure with a man of the match display, pulling the strings from a dominant pack to ignite a blistering backline – allowing Aaron Reed and Tom Roebuck to both cross the try line twice.

Outside-centre Will Addison also scored as Sale secured the try bonus point before half-time, inflicting Newcastle Falcons to what felt like an inevitable record 25th Premiership defeat in a row – going back to March 2023 – while being on a -100 points difference after just four games.

Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson said: “I’m happy with that performance. We had a bit of disruption with Luke Cowan-Dickie being in the sin-bin and Ben Curry throwing lineouts, which is why we went for the sticks and not to the corner in the second-half.

“So often these games end up being very niggly and a poor game where everything slows down at the breakdown. But we didn’t let that happen tonight so that’s a positive sign of the distance we’ve travelled from other years.”

First Half

Sharks were on the hunt for their first back-to-back league wins of the campaign, and showed their appetite within their opening spell of pressure in the first five minutes.

A perfectly weighted cross-field chip by Du Preez was expertly gathered by Reed, who outpaced an out of position Adam Radwan to race into the left corner for his first Premiership try of this campaign.

Newcastle’s makeshift fly-half Ethan Grayson’s penalty kick put Falcons on the board on the 14th minute as Sale were penalised for side-entry into a ruck, but the narrow 7-3 score didn’t last long.

Sale’s counter attacking ability was on full display; a brilliant chipand-chase by full-back Joe Carpenter – on his 50th Sharks appearance – and an over-the-top pass to set up Reed on the left, side-stepping Radwan and rocketing away from Louis Brown for his second try.

Sale’s forwards – buoyed by Tom Curry’s return in the back row – produced a brutal driving maul to claim a penalty try just before the half-hour mark, with Newcastle captain Callum Chick sin-binned for illegally bringing the maul down.

The hosts took advantage of the extra man, Gus Warr’s quick play from behind the scrum set up Addison to power over from short range for his first try since returning to the club in the summer.

Second Half

A fifth Sale try arrived early in the second half, inside-centre Sam Bedlow and captain Ben Curry broke through the middle of the park for England wing Roebuck to side-step Ben Stevenson and dot down in the right corner.

A quick attack off a 10-metre lineout saw captain Chick grab Newcastle’s only try of the game between the sticks, with Sale’s Cowan-Dickie sin-binned for a cynical offence.

That turned out to be little more than a brief reprieve as Sale underlined the gulf between the two northern teams with Du Preez’s teasing cross-field kick falling sweetly for the aerial dominant Roebuck to shrug off Stevenson and dive over for his second of the night.