- Written by Sophie Harcombe
- BBC Sport at the Recreation Ground
image source, Getty Images
Finn Russell's second penalty and a drop goal broke the deadlock and put Bath ahead of Sale.
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Attempt: Gallagher, Cokanasiga 2, Dunn, Lawrence. pen: russell 2 Cons: russell 4 Drop goal: russell |
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Attempt: Tuilagi, Roebuck, Dugdale pen: ford Cons: ford 3 |
Finn Russell scored 17 points as Bath beat Sale to move into second place in the Premiership.
Bath drew after 60 minutes with a try from Matt Gallagher and two from Joe Cokanasiga, while Manu Tuilagi, Tom Roebuck and Sam Dugdale scored for Sale.
However, Russell's penalty and drop goal broke the deadlock for Bath.
Olly Lawrence added his fifth try as Bath outscored Saracens after Tom Dunne's goal sealed the bonus point.
Sale remain eighth in the table, without a win in 2024, and have lost their last four Premiership games.
Bath popped out and put Sale ahead twice in the first few minutes. A wayward pass to Lawrence thwarted the try, but on the second chance full-back Gallagher was perfectly poised to run away.
Sale gained momentum into the game and took the lead, albeit for three minutes, as Ford kicked them into the boards to earn their first penalty and Tuilagi spun out of the tackle and ran into the corner.
Russell and Dunn then opened holes in the Sharks defence, with Red's one-handed over-the-top pass allowing Cokanasiga to swan dive and cross the try line.
However, Sale's kick chases were effective on a number of occasions and after going up the pitch, winger Aaron Reid recovered the grubber from Gus Waugh, only to be held back by a great sprint from Ben Spencer and at half-time. Bath held a narrow lead.
The second half got off to a disastrous start, with Roebuck intercepting Spencer's pass after winning the ball from a scrum and effortlessly edging past Russell for a corner.
With the lead swinging like a pendulum, there was little left between the two teams as Ted Hill, returning from injury after being sidelined since October, scored for Cokanasiga, who scored his second goal to secure a berth. returned to the lead.
However, when Lawrence was sent to the bin for a head-on collision, Sale capitalized on the penalty to score a touchdown over Dugdale, making it 24-24.
Bath refused to let the numerical disadvantage affect him further. Will Muir was denied a fine touchdown in the corner by Sale full-back Joe Carpenter, but Russell took the penalty and scored his first career drop goal to make it six points clear.
Suddenly everything started to go Bath's way as Bath returned to the XV, the coaches called in their substitutes and Dunn powered over from a maul to score a crucial bonus point and almost seal the victory. .
Lawrence then got the packed Rec crowd on their feet with five minutes remaining, capping off a steady game of pressure from Bath with his fifth try.
Bath rugby manager Johan van Graan told BBC Radio Bristol:
“I thought it was an all-round performance, and we showed every part of the game. It was a tough battle. I think the turning point was handling the yellow card well and taking the lead. And our impact made a big difference. I thought it gave birth to
“This week was all about process and I believe we followed our process and I’m happy with the five points we got and we didn’t give anything away.
“Tactically we did one or two things very well, but it's all down to the players and it's going to be a big challenge but we were able to overcome it tonight.
“We hadn't played together for nine weeks, but everyone pitted and had a good team performance.”
Rugby sale director Alex Sanderson told BBC Radio Manchester:
“We were on track and showing really good signs with some of the things we've been working on, but then we had some little moments that sapping our energy and giving them a chance. , the scoreline exploded.
“We lost two lineouts, we had one scrum pen, we had one maul pen that led to a maul try and there were 14 points that took the game away from us.
“I'm really proud of a lot of effort, but unfortunately this is an 80-minute game, not a 60-minute game.”
bus: Gallagher, Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Redpath, Muir, Russell, Spencer (c); Obano, Dunn, du Toit, Roux, Ewels, Hill, Underhill, Barbeary.
Replacement: Fiber, Schoeman, Griffin, Stoke, Reed, Schreuder, Bailey, Coetzee.
Sin bin: Olly Lawrence (56 minutes)
Sale: Carpenter, Roebuck, R. du Preez (c), Tuilagi, Reid, Ford, Waugh; Rod, Cowan Dickie, Harper, Wiese, Beaumont, Van Ryn, Dugdale, J.L. du Preez.
Replacement: Taylor, McIntyre, Opoku-Forjour, Bamber, Andrews, Quirke, James, O'Flaherty.
