Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Quirke-inspired Sale go top after bonus-point win at Leicester

By PA
(Photo by Nigel French/PA Images via Getty Images)

Half-time replacement Raffi Quirke inspired Sale to a memorable 26-16 victory at Gallagher Premiership champions Leicester that maintained their perfect start to the league season. With Saracens not in action until Sunday, the Sharks are now top of the table after making it four wins from four games by coming back from 16-5 down at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.

ADVERTISEMENT

It was a superb return from England scrum-half Quirke, who was playing in his first match for six months after a torn hamstring, but another shock to Leicester’s system as they suffered a second straight loss. Freddie Burns opened the scoring for Leicester with a penalty after six minutes after Sale’s defence, stretched by a good break by Harry Potter, were pinged for offside.

But it was the Sharks who had the game’s first try in the eleventh minute as Tom O’Flaherty almost got away before his fellow winger Tom Roebuck slipped through some flimsy tackling to score down the left. Rob du Preez missed the conversion, giving Burns the chance to kick the Tigers 6-5 ahead with his second penalty after Potter was obstructed when trying to claim a high ball.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

Following another successful kick at goal by Burns, as Sale’s discipline let them down again, Leicester went over for their first score of the afternoon after 29 minutes. Potter caused problems again down the left and it took a last-ditch tackle by Manu Tuilagi to stop him, but Jasper Wiese picked up before being helped over in the corner by a gaggle of teammates.

Sale were quickly back in the picture, however, as Gus Warr played the ball off the back of a scrum to du Preez, who weaved his way through to score before converting to reduce the hosts’ lead to 16-12. The game was then turned on its head eight minutes into the second half when Quirke broke through down the right before timing his pass to put Sharks captain Tom Curry in the clear.

Related

The Sharks had their bonus-point try in the 54th minute when Joe Carpenter made a break on the left wing before passing to Quirke, who had a comfortable run-in. It then took a superb tackle by Tigers full-back Freddie Steward to stop O’Flaherty from getting on the scoresheet as well and just about keep the hosts in the contest.

Having made one try and scored another, Quirke then prevented one at the other end by scampering back to stop Matt Scott in his tracks inches from the try line after the ball ran loose. Du Preez then missed the chance to extend Sale’s lead further by pushing a penalty wide, but by then time was running out for Leicester to mount a comeback.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

H
Hellhound 31 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

1 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING 'I don't think Steve Borthwick would pick Jack Willis even if he's playing in England' 'I don't think Borthwick picks Willis even if he's playing in England'
Search