Sale and Bristol reverted to carnival rugby in the Zurich Premiership at
Heywood Road on Saturday as they combined to put 100 points on the
scoreboard.
The Sharks outscored their West Country rivals by six tries to their five,
centre Martin Shaw leading the way with an impressive hat-trick.
Sale had scored three cracking tries in the first half as they did their level
best to run Bristol off their feet.
The first came in the fifth minute after Sale's backs had stretched the
Bristol defence sufficiently for Shaw to break through.
Wing Mark Cueto then did the hard work for a Shaw's fellow centre Mel Deane to
cross.
Fly-half Felipe Contepomi kept Bristol in touch with the boot and skipper
Jason Little cut the deficit to just two points when he slipped over for a try.
Right on half-time Bristol gifted Sale seven points.
A poor lineout throw found Sale's Chris Jones unmarked on the Bristol line and
he gratefully tumbled over.
However, the second half did not go all Sale's way. Old boy David Rees went
over for a try in the corner and very nearly repeated it seconds later.
And a turnaround looked possible when Deane's misdirected pass gave Bristol
flanker Michael Lipman a 70-yard race to the line.
Bristol clawed back to within a point before Sale pulled away again courtesy
of Shaw's final two tries and one from England full-back Jason Robinson.
Bristol came back with a fling in injury time to score tries through Lee Best
and replacement fly-half Shane Drahm to at least secure a bonus point for a
Bristol side not entirely certain of Zurich Premiership survival.
Teams:
Sale: Robinson, Cueto, Shaw, Deane, Hanley, Hodgson,
Redpath, Yates, Titterrell, Black, Fullarton, Lines, C. Jones, Pinkerton, A. Sanderson, A. Sanderson, Anglesea.
Replacements: Harris for Deane (65), Dickens for Redpath (79), C. Marais for Titterrell (58), Giacheri for Black (77), Anglesea for Fullarton (65), Wilks for Lines (77),
Anglesea for A. Sanderson (24), Stewart for A. Sanderson (77), A. Sanderson for Anglesea (34).
Tries: Shaw 3, Deane, C. Jones, Robinson.
Cons: Hodgson 4.
Pens: Hodgson 5.
Bristol: Best, Rees, Higgins, Little,
Christophers, Contepomi, Pichot, Crompton, McCarthy, White, Archer, A. Brown, Sheridan, Lipman, Sturnham.
Replacements: Williams for Little (79), Drahm for Contepomi (72), Nelson for McCarthy (59),
C. Morgan for Lipman (79).
Not Used: Payne, Short, Blake.
Tries: Little, Rees, Lipman, Best, Drahm.
Cons: Contepomi 3, Drahm 2.
Pens: Contepomi 4.
Att: 3,609
Ref: R Goodliffe (Sheffield (RFU)).
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