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Tom Roebuck displays England credentials as Sale crush Newcastle
By PA
Tom Roebuck scored twice as Sale cruised to a thumping 43-10 bonus-point win to condemn Newcastle to a 25th successive Premiership defeat.
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The homegrown winger, who made his England debut against Japan in the summer, produced two clinical second-half finishes to put himself in the frame for the autumn internationals.
Arron Reed’s early brace, a penalty try and a Will Addison score saw Alex Sanderson’s Sharks establish a 28-3 interval lead to clinch the bonus point before half-time.
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Roebuck then seized centre stage with his double after the break, while the visitors claimed a consolation try through captain Callum Chick.
For ex-Sale player and boss Steve Diamond it was a bitterly disappointing return to his hometown club as Newcastle’s long wait for a victory continued.
Sale began brightly and opened the scoring inside the fifth minute when fly-half Rob du Preez kicked to the left corner for Reed to collect and touch down.
Du Preez kicked a superb conversion to improve Reed’s try and put the hosts 7-0 up.
Newcastle were dealt a blow with full-back Elliott Obatoyinbo forced off with a knock and replaced by Louis Brown.
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Yet the Falcons, bolstered by the return of speedy winger Adam Radwan, initially steadied themselves from those early setbacks and began to make inroads inside Sale’s 22-metre line.
Their period of pressure forced the Sharks to defend stoutly, but it also led them to concede a penalty from a ruck which Ethan Grayson kicked to get the visitors off the mark.
From there the pendulum swung back in Sale’s favour as they went in search of a second try which arrived in the 22nd minute.
Full-back Joe Carpenter broke superbly inside the left channel and found Reed outside him with a neat pass which sent the winger racing clear to score his second try.
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Du Preez’s second conversion made it 14-3 and Reed went close to a hat-trick when another fine move sent him racing down the left flank.
But moments later the hosts’ third score came with a penalty try, with Chick sin-binned for collapsing a maul.
Reed was then forced off with a knock in the 33rd minute, but Addison was sent over the line following a short-range scrum and early the second half fellow winger Roebuck finished off a flowing move by touching down inside the right channel.
Newcastle hit back with a close-range score from Chick and Grayson converted, while Sale hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie was sin-binned, but the hosts ran out easy victors.
Roebuck produced a superb try late on, collecting a kick from Du Preez to touch down in the right corner for his second of the evening to underline his England credentials.
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