Bath 40 – 13 Sale Sharks: Bath top the table after six-try triumph over Sale

Today at 06:08 AM

By Sam Jess

Bath have spent the last weeks coming from behind on their travels, but back in front of the Rec, there was no such need as they went about the business in fine style despite a chaotic second half.

The hosts dominated life in the opening stages as Will Muir, Miles Reid and Thomas du Toit gave them a 21-6 halftime lead. A try after the break from Ted Hill looked to have secured the game, but a red card from Will Butt opened the game up as Will Addison closed the gap, but Bath sealed the game as Tom Carr-Smith grabbed the fifth while Sale’s Nye Thomas also saw red.

Bath now move into the top two again while Sale are slumped amongst the chasers down in seventh. Despite winning their last two, Will Muir’s absence has been felt by Bath in recent times and with the horse out of the stable and back in the starting side for the first time since round two; he made his presence felt.

A lovely tip on pass from Thomas du Toit sent Muir into a gaping whole to send the winger into his favourite corner and open the scoring after only two minutes. With Sale down a few hefty units in the front-row, the hosts made light work in the scrum as
Beno Obano on his 150th and Thomas du Toit went to work.

After a slow start, the Sharks began to grow into the game with the astute kicking game with Joe Carpenter and Rob du Preez forcing Bath into uncomfortable places with Sam Dugdale snatching a turnover penalty with du Preez knocking over with ease
again, Sale’s scrum faltered for a third time.

Russell and his backline had a chance to attack, but this time, they could not take their chances, with Ross Molony dropping a simple pass. Moments later, they would get their second though, as Miles Reid first pilfered the ball as the Sharks played from deep before he eventually rumbled over from close range following a 5m line-out.

The sharks, as they often do found something as Si McIntyre dug deep to earn a scrum penalty in response as Sale cut the lead. This would not last long as Bath would find their third try straight from kick-off. Cokanasiga grabbed possession before the hosts went about the work to go through 13 phases, and du Toit bundled his way over after some great variety from Bath.

At 21-6 down, the visitors needed to make a change, and so they did as Sanderson brought on Asher Opoku-Fordjour with the young buck tasked with stopping the Bath scrum, and so he did as Sale won a crucial penalty to escape their half.

However Guy Pepper was not letting Sale get another score before halftime as he went about stifling the Sharks attack to brilliant effectiveness. With a halftime for the first time since round 1, Bath’s task was to maintain their flying start, and when Ted Hill powered through Ben Bamber and Dan du Preez, they got just that with the Bath flanker securing the bonus point as he ran away to go under the posts.

The visitors needed a change in momentum, and when Will Butt saw red for driving a player into the ground head first, the chance to ignite their game was there.
With field position now in their favour, they got some rare quick ball, and the Sharks looked like a different side as they made some quick meters before a lovely piece of skill from Joe Carpenter saw his kick bounce into the arms of Will Addison for a beautiful score.

The Sharks had woken up, and suddenly, the game felt like it was back on; with Rob du Preez influence increasing, the game began to open up for them, and a second try in as many minutes looked as Luke James broke the line to create an overlap, but Muir somehow intercepted his pass to deny the visitors a certain try.

The hosts rallied back, and after they regained territory, they pounced with a bruising attack before spreading it wide as Will Muir dived in the corner but was tackled into touch, largely thanks to a shoulder charge from Nye Thomas, who saw red.

Bath did not have to wait long for their fifth try, though, as after the forwards brought them close, Russell went wide, but with space running, de Glanville and Orlando Bailey somehow kept the ball alive to give Tom Carr-Smith an easy finish.

Sale did release the shackles, but Bath’s defensive resilience was on point to deny the Sharks any late joy.

Bath: 40
Tries: 6 (Will Muir 2, Miles Reid 19, Thomas du Toit 27, Ted Hill 45, Tom Carr-Smith 62, Francois van Wyk 76)
Conversion: 5 (Finn Russell 3,20,26,46,63)
Penalties
Red Cards: Will Butt 51

BATH: 1 Beno Obano (150), 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Thomas du Toit, 4 Quinn Roux, 5 Ross Molony, 6 Ted Hill, 7 Guy Pepper, 8 Miles Reid ©, 9 Louis Schreuder, 10 Finn Russell, 11 Will Muir, 12 Will Butt, 13 Louie Hennessey, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Tom de Glanville

Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Vilikesa Sela, 19 Josh Bayliss, 20 Ethan Staddon, 21 Tom Carr-Smith, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Jaco Coetzee

Sale Sharks: 13
Tries: 1 (Will Addison 55)
Conversions 1 (Rob du Preez 57)
Penalties 2 (Rob du Preez 12, 23)

SALE SHARKS: 1 Si McIntyre, 2 Tadgh McElroy, 3 James Harper, 4 Ben Bamber, 5 Hyron Andrews, 6 Ernst van Rhyn, 7 Sam Dugdale, 8 Dan du Preez, 9 Gus Warr, 10 Rob du Preez, 11 Arron Reed, 12 Sam Bedlow, 13 Luke James, 14 Will Addison, 15 Joe Carpenter
Replacements: 16 Ethan Caine, 17 Tumy Onasanya, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Le Roux Roets, 20 Josh Beaumont, 21 Nye Thomas, 22 Tom Curtis, 23 Jean-Luc du Preez

Coaches comments
Bath Director of Rugby Johann van Graan said: “I believe we’re currently top of the log, which, you know, something to mention from our side; from a consistency point of view, we’ve gone a whole other premiership last season, plus the first six rounds now, so 24 rounds in a row, we’ve been in the top four.

That shows we’ve become a better team and we’ve become consistent, and that’s all we’re looking to do. Never too high, never too low, and enjoying the journey that we’re on.”

Sale Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson: “You know, you can’t shift 90 points in two weeks and be a team that wants to compete right at the top level; you just can’t do it. So, grace to God, we’ve got four weeks to have a real in-depth analysis of our systems, our mentality around the kind of team we want to be, and primarily from a defensive point of view. We need to get back to being sharks with teeth.”

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