Match Report: Sale Sharks 27 – 24 Northampton Saints

Northampton Saints claimed two points from their Friday night trip to Sale Sharks but a first win at Salford Stadium since 2017 eluded them for another season.

The men in Black, Green and Gold showed tremendous spirit and fight to survive a period with just 13 men in the first half to trail by just a handful of points at the break. Tom O’Flaherty’s try and a brace from Tom Roebuck sandwiched Emmanuel Iyogun’s response before Tommy Freeman went over for Phil Dowson’s side.

Henry Pollock and Fraser Dingwall’s efforts at both ends of the second-half secured a try-scoring bonus point but they came either side of Bevan Rodd’s try and a George Ford penalty for Sale, who held off a late Northampton fightback to secure a 27-24 victory.

FIRST HALF

Sharks piled on the early pressure and got their reward after ten minutes when Roebuck smashed his way infield after collecting a looping Ford pass. Upon the recycle, O’Flaherty leapt over by the right corner flag despite George Hendy’s despairing tackle attempt. 

Before Ford struck his missed conversion, his opposite number Tom James – who was playing his first-ever professional game at fly-half due to injuries and unavailabilities in the position – was sin-binned for a head-on-head collision in the build-up.

Minutes later, the visitors were temporarily reduced to 13 men when Freeman saw yellow for a deliberate knock-on and Sale swiftly capitalised when O'Flaherty’s grubber kick was scooped up and popped out by Tom Curry for Roebuck to finish stepping in from the wing.

Before James returned to the field of play, his teammates got themselves on the scoresheet and back in the game. Captain Dingwall’s brave decision to tap a central penalty was rewarded when Pollock slalomed through centre field before overarming an offload to Alex Coles to feed Iyogun to score the third try of his Saints career.

However, Sale did add a third try while still at a man advantage when Joe Carpenter burst through and fed Roebuck to finish and establish a 12-point advantage, 15 minutes before the break.

Fresh from his ten-minute rest, Freeman arrived back into proceedings with a bang when he arrived on a menacing angle to pull in Mitchell’s pass and swot away a tackler and cross over between the posts for his 50th for the Club.

Saints’ hopes of pulling level by the break were raised when Ford was sin-binned for a head-on-head collision with Burger Odendaal, but the hosts saw out the remaining five minutes to finish the first period five points to the good.

SECOND HALF

A minute into the second half, another of Saints’ England stars came to the fore. When James Ramm popped a pass in-field, there was seemingly nothing on for Pollock. The No.8 raced through a gap, arched a run before chipping ahead and regathering to level matters up on the scoreboard.

That period of parity didn’t last long as a scrum penalty award was punted deep into touch by the returning Ford, and Rodd was rumbled over for Sale’s bonus-point sealing score. 

Approaching the hour mark, Northampton remained firmly in the fight applying set-piece pressure to earn two scrum penalties and poach a lineout, as the foundations were laid for nerve-jangling final quarter. Some of the hosts’ concerns were eased when Ford knocked over a routine penalty with 15 minutes remaining. 

Saints refused to lay down as a brilliant tap tackle from Freeman prevented Arron Reed from a certain breakaway try entering the final ten minutes, then Dingwall bashed his way over following a strong period of pressure and Alex Mitchell’s conversion closed the gap to three points with a handful of minutes remaining.

Attacking from inside their own 22, Saints forced a penalty to get into enemy territory and afford themselves one last shot at glory, only for a breakdown turnover penalty to be awarded against them.

Saints now take a break from Gallagher Premiership action as they return to their Investec Champions Cup campaign with the visit of Clermont Auvergne for a Round-of-16 tie at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday 4 April – tickets are still available by clicking HERE.

LINE-UPS:

Sharks: 15 Carpenter, 14 Roebuck, 13 Rob du Preez (c), 12 Bedlow, 11 O’Flaherty, 10 Ford 9 Warr; 1 Rodd, 2 Cowan-Dickie, 3 Opoku-Fordjour; 4 Bamber, 5 Hill, 6 van Rhyn, 7 Tom Curry, 8 JL du Preez.
Replacements: 16 McElroy, 17 McIntyre, 18 John, 19 Andrews, 20 Dugdale, 21 Thomas, 22 Addison, 23 Reed.

Saints: 15 Ramm, 14 Freeman, 13 Odendaal, 12 Dingwall (c), 11 Hendy, 10  James, 9 Mitchell; 1 Iyogun, 2 Langdon, 3 Davison; 4 Munga, 5 Coles; 6 Kemeny, 7 Scott-Young, 8 Pollock
Replacements: 16 Walker, 17 Haffar, 18 Green, 19 Mayanavanua, 20 Augustus, 21 Pearson, 22 Weimann, 23 Litchfield.