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Sale Sharks up to second in Premiership with Newcastle win

By PA
Marland Yarde /PA

Sale moved up to second in the Gallagher Premiership after defeating Newcastle 31-16 at the AJ Bell Stadium.

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The Sharks controlled the opening period and deservedly moved 18-6 in front at the break thanks to tries from Marland Yarde and Lood De Jager.

AJ MacGinty converted one of those efforts and also added two first-half penalties, while Newcastle’s response came via the boot of Brett Connon.

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Connon was successful for a third time off the tee in the second period but two more MacGinty three-pointers effectively sealed a thoroughly deserved win for Alex Sanderson’s men.

Joel Matavesi and Simon Hammersley traded late tries in what was an exciting finale, but it was the Sharks that went home much the happier.

Following successive defeats to Bath and Harlequins, play-off challengers Sale got back on track against Exeter and took that momentum into the early stages of Friday’s game.

In contrast to the Falcons, who were slack from the start, the hosts played with tempo and accuracy and opened the scoring inside three minutes as Faf De Klerk’s brilliant pass was matched by an equally impressive finish from Yarde.

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MacGinty converted superbly from out wide and then played a crucial role in the Sharks’ next try.

Sanderson’s charges were finding gaps in the opposition defence with regularity and, after Josh Beaumont had scampered down the right, the lock found his fly-half.

The US international was put off balance by the retreating Logovi’i Mulipola but still managed to produce a sumptuous off-load to send De Jager across the whitewash.

Newcastle battled back and earned a penalty which Connon converted to reduce the arrears to 12-3, but they continued to make needless errors.

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Sale Sharks v Newcastle Falcons - Gallagher Premiership - AJ Bell Stadium

MacGinty was on hand to punish them as he slotted two three-pointers to move the hosts 18-6 in front at the interval – Connon responding with one of his own to keep the visitors just about in touch.

Newcastle boss Dean Richards needed an improvement from his team in the second half and he received it as they pressured the Sale line. However, they were only rewarded with a Connon penalty.

The Falcons were then boosted when Sale prop WillGriff John was yellow carded for a dangerous clearout, but they failed to benefit and instead MacGinty restored Sale’s 12-point buffer.

Sale Sharks v Newcastle Falcons - Gallagher Premiership - AJ Bell Stadium

Richards’ men needed tries and it led to them overplaying, resulting in a penalty that the Sharks’ fly-half kicked to effectively seal the win.

Newcastle did finally get over the line in the latter stages, though, as a Micky Young break was finished off by Premiership debutant Matavesi, but it proved to be mere consolation.

In fact, the Sharks had the final word when Yarde sprinted down the left and fed Hammersley, who touched down against his former club.

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Flankly 2 minutes ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
N
Nickers 11 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
N
Nickers 40 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

43 Go to comments
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