A young Sale Sharks slipped to a narrow 20-19 defeat to Doncaster to leave their Premiership Rugby Cup qualification hopes in the balance.
For Doncaster, it’s revenge for a last gasp defeat in this fixture in November, and represents a significant, historic scalp for the eighth placed Championship side.
Sale, on the other hand, have lost a second home game in a row, and whilst filled with inexperience will be disappointed to fail to re-establish what had been an impeccable home record before the Bath game two weeks ago.
Sale had taken an early lead through returning first teamer Rekeiti Ma’asi White, but Joe Ford’s Doncaster Knights fought hard to restrict Sale from scoring for the rest of the half, before reaping the benefits in the second half.
Doncaster fell back on their big names for their crucial tries, with former Shark Telusa Veainu and former England winger Semesa Rokoduguni both crossing. Scrum half Alex Dolly’s boot proved the difference, though, a long range 72nd minute penalty ensuring a late Obi Ene try wasn’t enough. Sale now sit fourth in the overall tournament standings, with plenty of teams left to play and potentially bump them outside a top eight berth.
Despite the early try, Sale were below par in a frustrating first half. Ma’asi White crashed over with ease with less than three minutes on the clock from a five metre scrum platform.
However, he came to symbolise Sale’s shortcomings when an un-finished line break preceded numerous Doncaster breaks through the centres. Sale were spared by some good cover defence by Alex Willis and Tom Curtis, but failed to make the most of their defensive scrambling when a Bevan Rodd pick-and-go was penalised for double movement just before half-time.
It wasn’t the last act of the half, Doncaster missing out on a well-deserved try when a Crossfield kick was knocked on with the try line begging.
Their try did come quickly in the second, when Veainu rolled back the years with a counter attacking try, the Tongan full back racing across the pitch on kick return before exchanging a one-two with winger Maliq Holden to score.
Sale ensured Doncaster’s lead was short-lived, however, when Sam Bedlow scored two minutes later, the replacement centre running onto a Hyron Andrews offload before rounding Veainu to dot down.
That try looked to have settled Sharks a bit, but momentum swung again, and decisively, when Rokoduguni intercepted deep into his own half, reading a Sharks set piece move with numbers over to score.
Dolly’s penalty followed seconds later, ensuring Obi Ene’s unconverted try in the corner was insufficient in overturning a six point lead.
