Charlie Hodgson made a welcome second-half return for Sale by kicking his side
to victory in their opening game of the season at Edgeley Park.
The Sharks stand-off, who toured with England over the summer, was ruled out
of the starting XV by the 11-week recovery rule.
Sale could have done with his boot in the first half when a series of chances
went begging which would have put his side in the clear.
The home side, looking to avenge last season's wild card final defeat against
the Tigers, piled forward early on with some swift passing movements but failed
to take advantage as stand-off Mike Hercus failed with two penalty attempts.
The pressure finally paid off when Mark Cueto made a good break and a precise
diagonal kick from Hercus found newly-appointed Sale skipper Jason Robinson
waiting out wide with plenty of time to gather and score.
Hercus was again well wide with the kick and Tigers responded positively and
were denied a try by the video replay - but their good work was undone when a
loose pass in his own 22 by stand-off Andy Goode was intercepted by Sale
scrum-half Bryan Redpath who darted over to score, but another two points went
begging as Hercus again fired wide.
Sale could have been well clear 20 minutes into the game but after yet another
Sale rampage Hercus missed his fifth kick at goal and let Tigers off the hook.
Hercus was again unlucky on the half hour when he hit the post with a snap
drop goal and Tigers took full advantage to take the ball back upfield where
centre Darryl Gibson got on the end of a string of quick passes to touch down in
the corner.
Goode made no mistake with the conversion to reduce the gap to just three
points and minutes later he levelled the scores with a drop goal from in front
of the posts.
Hercus redeemed himself slightly just before the break with a neat back pass
which sent Steve Hanley charging through to provide space for fellow winger
Cueto who touched down and Hercus then added the extras.
Tigers could have hit straight back but winger John Holtby knocked with the
line beckoning. However Goode managed to cut the half-time deficit to four
points with his second drop goal of the game.
Goode reduced the gap still further with a penalty after the break while at
the other end Hodgson, who came on at the interval to replace Hercus went wide
with his first attempt at a drop goal.
Goode then gave Tigers the lead with a 55th-minute penalty as Tigers dominated
the early stages of the second half.
Hodgson then had a drop goal disallowed for an earlier knock-on but then hit
the target minutes later to give Sharks the lead which he extended with a
penalty with three minutes remaining.
Hodgson then sealed victory with his third successful kick in injury-time.
Teams:
Sale: Robinson, Cueto, Baxendell, Todd, Hanley, Hercus,
Redpath, Woodman, Bruno, Stewart, Schofield, Day, White, Lund,
Chabal.
Replacements: Hodgson for Hercus (40),
Martens for Redpath (60), Titterell for Bruno (60),
Sheridan for Stewart (47), Jones for Schofield (57),
Caillet for White (80).
Not Used: Mayor.
Tries: Robinson, Redpath, Cueto.
Cons: Hercus.
Pens: Hodgson 2.
Drop Goals: Hodgson.
Leicester: Murphy, Holtby, Lloyd, Gibson, Healey, Goode, Ellis,
Rowntree, Chuter, Morris, M. Johnson, Kay, B. Deacon, Skinner,
Corry.
Replacements: Smith for Lloyd (60), White for Morris (47),
L. Deacon for Kay (65), Abraham for B. Deacon (72).
Not Used: Buckland, Broadfoot, Rabeni.
Tries: Gibson.
Cons: Goode.
Pens: Goode 2.
Drop Goals: Goode 2.
Att: 6,952
Ref: D Pearson (RFU).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook