It may be a cliché, but this was truly a game of two halves. The first was a terrible watch, devoid of spark or inspiration. The second was a riot as two title-chasing teams shook off the fog of perhaps too much Christmas cheer and gave a sellout crowd what was promised on the tin: five tries, one a decisive penalty, and a famous home win that puts Northampton at the top of the Premier League.
Both coaches would have had plenty of unpleasant words to share with their attackers at the break, but at least Sale boss Alex Sanderson had a seven-pointer to help the medicine go down. That happened in the 38th minute – the first score of the match – thanks to some athletic work from Tom Roebuck, who galloped to pluck a high ball to set Sale in motion in Northampton’s 22. With a penalty advantage, George Ford tucked his shoulder and sucked in. a defender, creating space for the onrushing Joe Carpenter on his outside to score.
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Otherwise, the first 40 minutes were a masterclass of big men meeting other big men with no direction or acuity. Pointless kicks were returned in kind. Balls were spilled upon contact. Set pieces sputtered. And when Fin Smith left a 40-yard penalty in front of the posts, the home faithful let out a groan louder than any cheer they had received up to that point.
Not that Sale itself offered much in attack. Neither team was able to string together a move that extended beyond five phases until Northampton came into action after Carpenter’s try. How Sanderson must have longed for the wrecking ball that is the injured Manu Tuilagi.
Sanderson’s counterpart, Phil Dowson, had nothing positive to hold on to. Before the start of this round, Northampton had made more clean breaks than any other team. They had done this with passing against the current, a large push-off 10 and sufficient width. None of that was on display as Sale’s explosive line speed overwhelmed the hosts in the tight channels and forced Smith to look for good runners after broken play.
“Thanks to Sale, they are one of the best defensive sides in the league,” said Dowson. “Sometimes you have to wear the sides down. In the second half we drove some seeds again and managed to get some of our traditional play on the field.”
His side exploded out of the tunnel, finding a previously absent edge. Suddenly width was offered and Ollie Sleightholme was released on the left. Only a desperate dive from Robert du Preez kept Northampton scoreless.
Now real rugby emerged from the gloom. Sale, with a lineout on their own line, made their way upfield and got the feed for another throw at the other end. The maul was stopped but they held the ball until Luke Cowan-Dickie dug in to score. Ford, who previously missed a gimme off the tee, threw in the extras.
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall is left sweating over the outcome of a tribunal against Mako Vunipola (pictured) after he was sent off in the final minute of his side’s 37-19 win over Newcastle. The veteran England tighthead saw red for a head shot on the final play at StoneX Stadium to Falcons hooker Bryan Byrne, who was about to be tackled by Nick Isiekwe.
It took some of the shine off the result for Sarries, who returned to Premier League glory after successive defeats to remain fifth in the table. McCall said: “We’ll see what Mako’s red card is because he was part of a double tackle. He was second, the primary tackler had an impact on the ball carrier’s body size, so we’ll see what the panel has to do. ” say in a few days.
Ben Earl returned from injury against the Premier League’s bottom side in his first action in almost two months after a leg injury and the 25-year-old England back-row helped his club put recent losses to Northampton and Sale behind them.
Rory Jennings scored the first points of the match for Newcastle within two minutes, before a sustained period of Saracens pressure eventually led to hooker Theo Dan forcing his way through. Manu Vunipola missed the conversion and Falcons were next to strike as Adam Radwan cut the ball clear twice before his rapid pace allowed him to follow it and go clear. Jennings added the extras and then converted a penalty from just over 40 yards to extend the visitors’ lead to 13-5.
Manu Vunipola quickly closed the gap to five points with a penalty of his own, but the hosts suffered a disappointment when an Iwan Stephens score on the counter was disallowed due to a Guy Pepper knock-on. Within a minute, Sarries scrum-half Ivan van Zyl struck after quickly taking a penalty for a high tackle, and Manu Vunipola’s conversion gave his side the lead.
The Falcons fly-half put his side in front again with his third penalty, shortly after Olly Hartley was denied a score due to a forward pass from Van Zyl. But the visitors couldn’t hold on until the break when Juan Martín González made a dummy before floating over the final play of the first half. It meant Saracens were given a 22-16 lead, with Manu Vunipola and Jennings trading penalties in the early stages of the second half to keep the lead at six points.
Saracens had their bonus point on 64 minutes when they were awarded a penalty try as a driving maul collapsed on the way to the Newcastle line. Falcons captain Callum Chick was sent to the sin bin as a result and he was still off the pitch by the time Mako Vunipola punched his way in for his late red card. PA media
“We were in contention, ready and probably had the match in the short and curlies, although there were no lost collisions and poor discipline,” Sanderson said.
Northampton rallied and George Furbank, released by Smith, squeezed around a defender and made strides to score. Ford scored a drop goal to take back control but when Sale were denied a try in the corner, Saints started to believe. Courtney Lawes, coming on as a substitute, made a difference around the edge, which coincided with better forward ball for those in green and black. With 15 minutes to go, Alex Mitchell found half a gap to close from close range.
Now Northampton had momentum. A penalty and strong carries from the subsequent lineout feed inside Sale’s 22 put them within striking distance of the line. Another penalty in the shadow of the posts was quickly tapped in by Furbank, who had two Sharks defenders with him. One, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, was in an offside position and so the penalty was awarded, giving Northampton the lead for the first time.
They didn’t hand it over. And when Alex Coles, playing his 100th game for the club, stole a lineout at the death to secure victory, the rut for that disappeared immediately.