Little to cheer for Sale
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Your support makes all the difference.There were blushes all round in the Sale camp after their Fijian fly-half, Niki Little, had booted them to a late victory over Caerphilly in the European Shield.
There were blushes all round in the Sale camp after their Fijian fly-half, Niki Little, had booted them to a late victory over Caerphilly in the European Shield.
At one stage in the second half it looked as though Caerphilly might sneak a surprise win against a side that performed the double over them in the same competition last season. Indeed, had their fly-half, Chris John, kicked with anything like Little's accuracy, it could have been a different story, which would have served Sale right.
The Sharks were not only pretty toothless but seemed all at sea. Sale's director of rugby, Adrian Hadley, said afterwards: "That wasn't up to scratch. We wouldn't put anything together. We go through things in training, week in and week out, and then go out on a Saturday and some of the players do their own thing."
The game was a major disappointment for Sale, considering the way they had started out when they found rich pickings at a disorganised Caerphilly line-out and in the scrums where they had an early edge.
Charlie Hodgson, the teenaged fly-half who was called into England's development squad two weeks ago, kicked three penalties in the opening 12 minutes to give his side a considerable cushion. Perhaps that was partly the problem because they lost their way thereafter and one sensed Caerphilly considering turning damage limitation into a serious bid for their first points in the competition.
By half-time they had hauled themselves level as Sale went from bad to worse. John popped over a drop-goal to start the fight-back. Neither side looked like scoring tries at that stage but John was happy to follow Hodgson's lead and kick penalties.
Immediately after the interval Caerphilly enjoyed their best spell and Mike Wilson was able to rumble over in the corner.
EventuallySteve Hanley worked up a head of steam to send Vaughan Going on a romp to the line. That brought the sides level again. Little, who had replaced Hodgson, could not convert but then banged over three penalties to give Sale their first points in this year's competition.
Sale Sharks: V Going; S Davidson, M Shaw, M Deane, S Hanley; C Hodgson (N Little, 44), B Redpath; A Black, N Rusk (B Jackman, 44), J Thiel (D Bell, 44), G Manson-Bishop, D Baldwin (R Wilks, 65), S Lines, P Anglesea, R Appleyard.
Caerphilly: J Thomas; N Berlillion, D Hawkins, R Boobyer, S Marshall; C John, A Jacobs; M Bolton (C Fitzpatrick, 60), T Charles, M Wilson (S Fonua, 52), N Watkins, M Workman, N Strong, A Williams, K Hocking (C Brown, 65).
Referee: D Darligeas (France).
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