Sale travelled to Shaftesbury Park to face highflyers Bristol Bears this weekend and it was the hosts who got on the board first. A driving maul after eight minutes set the tone for the forwards who dominated the set piece for most of the game.
For the next fifteen minutes the teams matched up well. Sale defended hard and forced handling errors from the home team before Sophie Hopkins carved her way through the Bristol line and two passes later the ball reached Rachel Philipps who crossed for her first Sharks try.
Philipps went on to be one of the standout performers for the visiting team. Consistently making big tackles and working hard in and out of possession. Her effort was rewarded ten minutes later as she broke through again, this time turning provider for Rigoni to level the score at 12-12 after Bristol had scored their second.
The Bears didn’t take long to respond, heading straight back down the other end from kick off and moving it wide to Lovibond who made it over in the corner. This was compounded minutes before half time when Bristol were awarded a penalty try and Nick James saw yellow for illegally collapsing a driving maul, making the score 26-12 at half time.
Sharks started the second half brightly but their momentum was crushed when Atkin-Davies went over with another driving maul to get Bears going in the second forty.
The introduction of fresh legs buoyed Sale. Evie Roach came on to make her full Sale debut while Nick James was still in the sin bin and Lizzie Duffy and Holly Thorpe combined with almost their first touches coming off the bench for the latter to score in the corner on fifty minutes.
Sale continued to work hard but three more tries, the last from a Holly Aitchison, who had controlled proceedings all day, meant that as the full-time whistle blew, the score was 54-17 to the home side.
Sale now travel back to Manchester with one more fixture before the Christmas break, hosting Loughborough Lightning on 21st December. Tickets are available now from the club’s website.
