Sale Sharks 43-10 Newcastle Falcons: Carpenter stars in 50th appearance as Sharks pile misery onto Falcons:
10/13/2024 09:21 AM
By Charlie Elliott
Full-back Joe Carpenter impresses in his 50th Sale appearance and showed why he is hotly tipped for an England callup, with Sale ruthlessly putting Newcastle to the sword in a statement victory at the Salford Community Stadium.
Alex Sanderson was in high spirits after the game, but offered plenty of sympathy to his opposing manager Steve Diamond, who he knows very well, and said in the post-match interview:
"It's not a nice play to be, got to keep motivating that group, finding that edge to compete week in week out. "I don't envy his position at this point in time. "Difficult to compete when you've got half the budget of everyone else."
There was also plenty of praise for many of his players, including: Tom Curry, Guss Warr, Joe Carpenter and Tom Roebuck, which comes as expected following a very strong performance from his side.
Sale started the game with intent, and following an early spell of pressure scored their first points after only 5 minutes when Scotsman Arron Reed crossed the try-line with ease following a kick across to the left-wing, with Rob Du Preez converting.
The game then became a bit cagey for the Sharks in the next period, with the nature of which being exemplified when Ben Curry infringed at the ruck to give Newcastle a penalty in the 22, which Ethan Grayson converted to give the Falcons their first points of the night, after 15 minutes.
The Sharks' nerves would soon be settled, when full-back Joe Carpenter, making his 50th appearance for the club, did some great work down the left hand side to chip to himself and then perform a simply brilliant offload to winger Arron Reed, who again found himself in the right position on the wing , he breezed past the last defender with ease to score his second try of the night, Rob Du Preez again made no mistake with the conversion.
In the 29th minute Carpenter and Reed continued to link up well, with the former setting the latter off yet again, however this time the Scotsman was well tackled. Sale eventually get a lineout and power forward past the try-line with a maul, and despite it not initially being given, after further review a penalty try is awarded as a result due to the ball being held up, with Newcastle captain Callum Chick being sent to the sin-bin as a result.
Half time: Sale Sharks 28-3 Newcastle Falcons
Following some even more fast attacking play from Sam Bedlow to weave in and out of two men, Ben Curry played an amazing pass at pace with his left-hand through to Tom Roebuck, who finished at the wing to get Sale their 5th try of the night.
The Falcons would have a bit of joy and following a penalty that was kicked to the corner, they won the lineout and captain Callum Chick scored their first try of the night, with Grayson converting to get them into double figures, for the third time of the season. Luke Cowan-Dickie got Sale's first yellow following a cynical foul.
The more low-key second half would have some life injected into it, with Roebuck plucking the ball out of the sky sensationally after a Rob Du Preez kick over to the wing, he found his feet to score his second try of the night, sending the home crowd into raptures. Tom Curtis then failed to convert, missing his and Sale's first kick of the night.
Full Time Sale 43-10 Newcastle
Sale Sharks: 43
TRIES: 6 (Reed 5' 22' Penalty try 29' Addison 35' Roebuck 45' 72')
CONVERSIONS: 4 (Du Preez 6' 23' 35' 45')
PENALTIES: 1 (Curtis 54')
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 1 (Luke Cowan- Dickie 50')
RED CARDS: 0
15. Joe Carpenter 14. Tom Roebuck 13. Will Addison 12. Sam Bedlow 11. Arron Reed 10. Rob Du Preez 9. Gus Warr 1. Simon McIntyre 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie 3. James Harper 3. Ben Bamber 5. Hyron Andrews 6. Enst van Rhyn 7. Ben Curry (captain ) 8. Tom Curry
Replacements
16. Ethan Caine 17. Tumy Onasanya 18. Asher Opoku-Fourdjour 19. Josh Beaumont 20. Dan Du Preez 21. Nye Thomas 22. Tom Curtis 23. Sam Dugdale
Newcastle Falcons: 10
TRIES: 1 (Chick 50')
CONVERSIONS: 1 (Grayson 50')
PENALTIES: 1 (Grayson 15')
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 1 (Chick 29')
RED CARDS: 0
15. Elliott Obatoyinbo 14. Adam Radwan 13. Oli Spencer 12. Cameron Hutchinson 11. Ben Stevenson 10. Ethan Grayson 9. Sam Stuart 1. Adam Brocklebank 2. Jamie Blamire 3. Richard Palframan 4. Pedro Rubiolo 5. John Hawkins 6. Philip van der Walt 7. Tom Gordon 8. Callum Chick (captain)
Replacements
16. Ollie Fletcher 17. Luan de Bruin 18. Murray McCallum 19. Freddie Lockwood 20. Adam Scott 21. Joe Davis 22. Jack Metcalf 23. Louis Brown
5 TALKING POINTS: SALE SHARKS 43-10 NEWCASTLE FALCONS
1) Tom Curry back to his best:
A player which has been hampered by injuries recently but has shown some great character to get back to full form. The two Curry brothers showed their full qualities against Falcons and Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson had very high praise when speaking after the game:
"I thought Tom's first half performance was outstanding, he carried and he got turnovers, put some thumping tackles in. I was really happy talking to Tom as he was coming off.
When they (Tom and Ben Curry) are on form, there's no better pairing to have in your team, particularly in the back five. They're a menace, they're everywhere.
"It's good to see them smiling."
2) Carpenter for England?
In his 50th appearance for the club, Joe Carpenter put in yet another stellar performance and will have given Steve Borthwick some serious food for thought regarding whether the full-back should get his first senior appearance for his country. Alex Sanderson said that Carpenter was coming up to the peak of his career and that the best is yet to come. He focused more on the team aspect of the performance rather than individual players, but made it clear that he was very happy with the direction that Carpenter is going right now.
3) Not a lack of effort for the Falcons, but a lack of skill:
Newcastle Director of Rugby Steve Diamond had some damning words to say about where his team is now, following their 25th Premiership defeat in a row:
"We're going to struggle with the personnel that we have out at the moment. Two or three back from injuried and we might be a little bit different but we can't control the game at the moment having Ethan (Grayson) playing at 10.
We've got a lack of skill in certain areas. We're not able to convert any possession into pressure and get ourselves in a game and when that happens you don't get the rub of the green, decisions go against you.
The knowledge and belief is there, but you need the skillset to put it together."
4) Tom Roebuck to cement himself as an international:
With only a singular international appearance to his name, winger Tom Roebuck will be looking to get another chance for his country, and if he keeps putting in performances like he did against Newcastle, then it seems a matter of when rather than if. Speaking after the match, the Sharks Director of Rugby spoke about the recent improvements he has made to his game:
"He's been climbing since pre-season and getting tap-backs, but we've been telling him actually you need to get the ball back, and claim it in the air.
The last one he catches and scores a try having to go through the man. I of all people know what it feels like when Tom Roebuck's coming through you! He is really chuffed with that performance for the nature and the style in which he scored those tries.
"He's putting himself up there for (England) selection, he was in camp last week so he missed a full weeks training and he still plays like that, shows his maturity."
5) Still some questions about Sale's depth:
Despite a largely rotated side winning against Gloucester last week, Alex Sanderson still believes there is more that could be done by his backup players following the win against Falcons, and spoke about their importance to the team going forward:
"I made a lot of substitutions which were planned to look after some of our big lads who have been putting big shifts in over the last few weeks. We still have to be better when everyone comes on despite all of those substitutions that we made if we're going to be ruthless and be where we want to be. I don't think there's any lack of intent from the lads who came on."
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