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Skipper Rob du Preez gives Sale Sharks deserved win against Leicester Tigers

By PA
Connor Doc and Josh Beaumont of Sale Sharks celebrate at the final whistle during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Leicester Tigers and Sale Sharks at Mattioli Woods Welford Road Stadium on October 21, 2023 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images for Sale Sharks)

Captain Rob du Preez’s individual try allowed Sale Sharks to make it back-to-back wins in the Gallagher Premiership as they defeated Leicester Tigers 24-17 at Welford Road.

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The Sharks controlled the majority of proceedings, only to be pegged back by Ollie Hassell-Collins’ excellent finish in what was an entertaining encounter between two of last season’s top-four teams.

Ultimately, however, Alex Sanderson’s side ensured a repeat of the outcome of their semi-final against the Tigers back in May, and made it two straight defeats for their hosts at the start of the new campaign.

Sale were forced into a late change at full-back, with Tom O’Flaherty coming in for Joe Carpenter and the visitors were further rocked by conceding the game’s opening try after eight minutes.

From a ruck, Tom Whiteley fed Jamie Shillcock, whose quick pass allowed Mike Brown, denied by an excellent Du Preez tackle not long before, to finish from a few metres out.

Shillcock failed to convert and the Sharks responded immediately when Gus Warr’s off-load found a galloping Ernst van Rhyn and the back rower timed his pass to send Tom Roebuck under the posts, making Du Preez’s conversion a formality.

The fly-half sent a penalty from 40 metres wide soon after and Sale then had a ‘try’ from O’Flaherty ruled out for a knock-on at the breakdown by Nick Schonert in the build-up.

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But the visitors were able to make the most of a sustained spell of pressure when Van Rhyn was adjudged to have touched down after a TMO check, Du Preez adding the extras.

It was then the Tigers’ turn to hit back quickly when captain Hanro Liebenberg barged his way over from close range, with Shillcock’s conversion reducing the gap to 14-12 at half-time.

A simple penalty from Du Preez took Sale’s lead back out to five points early in the second half, a gap that remained after Hassell-Collins knocked on in-goal having got to Shillcock’s kick down the left wing first.

However, Hassell-Collins was able to score just after the hour mark, shrugging off O’Flaherty’s tackle to level the match after he had been put into space by Joe Powell, Shillcock pushing his conversion wide.

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Sale almost regained the lead four minutes later when Sam James gathered Sam Bedlow’s pass, only to be held up by a posse of Leicester forwards.

But there was no denying Du Preez in the 69th minute as he took Raffi Quirke’s pass before dummying and going clear to score a try he converted himself under the posts.

Arron Reed almost made the game safe when he knocked on after being tackled by Dan Kelly, but Sale held out for what was a deserved victory.

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Tom 40 minutes ago
English rugby pundits and fans really need to get a grip

However I think the “if their opponents had scored more points then England would have lost” retrospective is pointless at best and silly at worst.

I completely understand your view on this but England were the worst team in both games and if we're letting the result detract from the evaluation of the performance then we're doing ourselves a disservice. England fans should not get excited because we scraped two fortunate wins, it was a swing in variance and long term that variance will come crashing down on England because they did not play well. Ifs and buts aside I don't think anyone thinks England are better than either France or Scotland. The performance is what matters, results follow performances in the long run.


You could for sure argue that the games they lost they could have won if the bounce of a ball went differently. In none of those narrow loses did England feel considerably the better team and there weren't moments you'd chalk up to massive amounts of fortune. In the two narrow loses they very much felt like the worst team and there were many moments where the rub of the green went England's way. Ultimately, they've had an uptick in variance which will average itself out to more losses because they're not good. These two results don't mean anything has been fixed. As I say, performances are what I'm looking for, not results, the results come if the performances are good and right now the performance in every game has more or less been dire.

4 Go to comments
R
RedWarriors 1 hour ago
France change two for Ireland but stick with 7-1 bench tactic

I saw Ben Kayser saying the French players would be livid and motivated due to the Ringrose ban etc. Galthie and Ntamack know the exact reason why the bans differ and one must assume the French squad does also. Galthie is playing silly buggers.


As the red card for Ringrose fell right before a fallow week, he WAS released by Leinster who provided accompanying substantiation. Precedent shows club matches are included in bans in such cases. For Galthie/France alone precedents are Atonio (2023), Haouas (2023), and Danty (2024). Club matches counted for bans.


Ntamack was different because France were due to play a match the following week (versus England). Therefore Galthie COULD NOT release Ntamack. In the written decision, Galthie tried to argue that Ntamack would be released after England but had to admit that a lot depended on outcome of England match which was unknowable. On top of that Ntamack was the starting outhalf for France.

The precedents for the Ntamack situation are O’Mahony (2021) where club games did not count, and Willemse (2024) where Willemse had a 10 match ban reduced to 4 and club matches DID count for the suspension.


So Galthie has had three cases like Ringrose (Atonio, Haouas, Danty) with same outcome as Ringrose. He had one previous case like Ntamack where he succeeded, but he was aware of and even mentioned the O’Mahony case where all the ban was for International matches.


In a nutshell. Why were those players allowed club matches to count? Because they WERE released for the club games.

Why did club matches not count for O’Mahony and Ntamack? Because they WERE NOT released for the club games which meant they could not reach the evidential threshold required.


Why is he demanding a World Rugby inquiry when he knows the reasons for such decisions, has known for years, has benefitted for years? France know this and Ireland knows this.

Dupont and the French team are honorable. This wont sit well with them. I would argue this is a bigger motivator for Ireland than for France.


Conclusion: Galthie is under serious pressure to win this match

32 Go to comments
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