By Tom Jeffreys
George Ford’s precise boot earns Sale Sharks their fifth opening day victory at the Salford Community Stadium in a row in “hard-fought, gritty slugfest” vs Harlequins.
Those were the post-match words of Sharks Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson, who acknowledged that “the main point is that we got a win, but we know we’ve got to be better if we’re to compete in the latter end of the season”.
The game was heavily influenced by the hours of rainfall that preceded kickoff, but in both halves Harlequins squandered early close-range chances before they succumbed to Ford’s kicking prowess, the England fly half marking his return from the injury that forced him to miss England’s summer tour with two simple first half penalties, and two deadeye efforts from width and range either side of half time.
“It’s not how we trained, it was a bit scratchy with the weather, but I’m really happy with how we stuck together”, said Sanderson. “George Ford was really composed, really calm, he played it like a test match, picking up points early, and in the end it was his boot that won us the game.
“I said to the boys that Waisea Nayacalevu is in for a rude awakening, because he hasn’t seen bad weather yet”, he continued, “and it’s easy to lose your head in a game like that and chase it, but we kept on doing the right thing.
“This group’s too good [for more entertaining performances] not to come to the fore, it just didn’t happen today”.
Indeed, it was a first half dictated by the typically soggy Mancunian conditions, the ball regularly spilled in a physical affair in which play rarely passed three phases.
As a result, the all-English front row of Bevan Rodd, Luke Cowan-Dickie, and Asher Opoku Fordjour were busy and, with the latter on his first Premiership start for the club, they were finding some purchase before a third scrum penalty, this one against the head, earned George Ford a simple shot at goal to open the scoring.
The fly half soon doubled Sale’s points tally with another simple penalty, this one the product of Hyron Andrews plucking a Quins lineout, but it was Quins who registered the first try of the match, a five meter maul executed clinically to allow hooker Jack Walker to flop over.
The visitors took their first lead of the game soon after, Leigh Halfpenny knocking over his first Premiership points from close range, but some typically enterprising aerial work from winger Tom Roebuck earned Sale a penalty on the stroke of halftime, and Ford dissected the sticks from a wide angle to earn his side a 9-8 half time lead.
In a repeat of the early stages of the first half, Quins had the ball dislodged as they picked and went for the line, this time Jean-Luc Du Preez and Cowan-Dickie emulating Andrews’ first half efforts, before Sale’s first chance of the half went begging when Tom Roebuck dived whiskers short of a George Ford cross field kick.
As both sides struggled to establish any meaningful territory, it wasn’t until the 71st minute that a second half stalemate was broken when a dynamic Oscar Beard break gave Quins the territory required to set up a Halfpenny three pointer, and a Harlequins 11-9 lead.
Energised by the scoreboard pressure, replacement scrum half Nye Thomas began producing some quick ball and Quins were soon penalised for not rolling, and it was left once again to Ford’s accuracy to provide the goods as he sent one over from five metres inside the touchline, and ultimately win the game with five minutes remaining.
