Worcester stun Sale
Worcester Warriors claimed their second Guinness Premiership win of the season with a 17-9 success at Sale Sharks.
Last Updated: 16/11/08 10:24am
Worcester Warriors claimed their second Guinness Premiership win of the season with a 17-9 success at Sale Sharks.
The Warriors' pack produced a huge performance at Edgeley Park to build the foundations for a fully-deserved victory and condemn Sale to their sixth defeat in seven matches.
Worcester bagged the game's only try in the 52nd minute when Fijian flanker Netani Talei touched down.
Fly-half Matthew Jones supplemented that score with four penalties, while Sale's points came from three Charlie Hodgson penalties.
Worcester have now won at Edgeley Park for three seasons, the fourth straight match Sale have lost at their Stockport home.
Full-back Mathew Tait, back in Sale's starting line-up after being released by England, was withdrawn in the second half after struggling to impose himself on the match.
Disjointed
Tait was not alone in failing to play to his potential and this disjointed display against one of the Premiership's lowliest-placed teams will give Sharks director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre much food for thought.
Hodgson and opposite number Jones both landed two first-half penalties to ensure an interval scoreline of 6-6.
Jones got Worcester off the mark in the third minute with a straightforward penalty from underneath the posts but Hodgson soon looked to exert his authority on proceedings.
The discarded England number 10 flighted a beautiful crossfield kick into the left corner which gave Sale the field position to force a lineout which almost reaped rich dividends.
The pressure amounted to nothing but some neat handling from Hodgson in the eighth minute saw him play the ball out to Chris Bell, though his pass to Mark Cueto was overcooked and the chance spurned.
It was indicative of the opening half, as was Bell's ill-judged forward pass which denied Neil Briggs what should have been the game's opening try.
Hodgson's 13th-minute penalty got Sale off the mark and, after Jones missed his second attempt, Hodgson edged his side 6-3 ahead with another three-pointer on the half-hour mark.
Jones did manage to claim his second penalty three minutes before the break but he erred again shortly after the restart from another relatively comfortable position.
Talei try
However, the Warriors drove at the heart of Sale in the 52nd minute and were rewarded with a try.
A simple scrum was fed out wide to the left where Talei advanced forward at pace from around 20 metres out to charge through Sale's back line to touch down with ease.
Rudi Keil was culpable for Sale, having failed badly to halt Talei's progress just short of the line, but the score put Worcester in control and they did not look back thereafter.
Jones could not convert the try and Hodgson's third penalty kept Sale right in contention at 9-11, and Chris Pennell and Jones both missed further penalty attempts around the hour mark.
However, Jones began to find his range and added two more penalties to take his tally to four and put Worcester home and dry.
