England's Charlie Hodgson produced a master class in the art of fly-half play
as Sale destroyed a rudderless Worcester outfit in the Zurich Premiership
on Friday night.
Hodgson displayed the full array of his passing armoury in marshalling an
impressive rout of the Premiership new boys at Edgeley Park.
He also kicked
seven conversions and a penalty just to rub it in.
Sale had the game wrapped up by half-time, playing the game at a pace that
Worcester just could not live with.
They opened the scoring after five minutes when Hodgson kicked a penalty into
the Warriors' 22, and Sale claimed the resulting line-out. The ball was worked
right and Chris Jones crashed over from short range to claim his first try of
the night.
Hodgson converted from wide out to make the score 7-0 to the Sharks.
Sale looked to have extended their lead 10 minutes later after a trademark
Jason Robinson break.
Hodgson cleverly kicked across the pitch where Mark Cueto gathered and went
over. The referee judged that Cueto was offside and the score was disallowed.
Sale did not have to wait long to score again for real. Hodgson spotted Cueto
wide on the right and floated a delicious miss pass for the wing man to saunter
over. Hodgson converted to make the score 14-0.
The Warriors responded immediately through the boot of fly-half James Brown
who knocked over a 30 metre penalty after a Sale mix-up at the kick-off.
Hodgson put Sale 17-3 up with a 35 metre penalty on 28 minutes.
Chris Jones went over for his second of the night on 31 minutes, showing great
pace in support of a Chris Day break. Hodgson's kick made the score 24-3.
The first half scoring was completed on 35 minutes by flanker Magnus Lund's
try. This was also converted by the immaculate Hodgson.
Both sides had a man sin-binned before the break when Colin Noon and Barry
Stewart compared front row handbags at a ruck.
Normal service was resumed after the break when Scottish international
scrum-half Bryan Redpath was driven over the line by three of his forwards.
Hodgson, for once, was not able to convert.
In a high scoring game it was only going to be a matter of time before
Robinson got on the scoreboard.
Hodgson and Chris Rhys Jones worked the ball left after an aimless kick by
young Worcester replacement Clive Stuart Smith.
With 40 meters to the line and two men to beat there was only ever one winner
as Robinson screamed over in the corner. Hodgson's conversion made the score
43-3.
Worcester's frustrations resulted in second row Tim Collier being sin-binned
on 67 minutes.
Replacement Stuart Turner and the live wire Jones completed the scoring for
the magnificent Sharks.
Teams
Sale: Robinson, Cueto, Rhys Jones, Todd, Hanley, Hodgson,
Redpath, Sheridan, Titterell, Stewart, Day, White, Jones, Lund,
Chabal.
Replacements: Wigglesworth for Cueto (67),
Taumalolo for Todd (62), Hercus for Hanley (60),
Bruno for Titterell (69), Anglesea for White (62),
Turner for Lund (40), Caillet for Chabal (71).
Sin Bin: Stewart (39).
Tries: Jones 3, Cueto, Lund, Redpath, Robinson, Turner.
Cons: Hodgson 7.
Pens: Hodgson.
Worcester: Delport, O'Leary, Hinshelwood, Lombard, Gollings,
Brown, Cole, Windo, Daly, Noon, Collier, Gillies, Hickey,
Sanderson, MacLeod-Henderson.
Replacements: Roke for O'Leary (69),
Stuart-Smith for Cole (50), Murphy for Windo (62),
van Niekerk for Gillies (62), Sparks for MacLeod-Henderson (40).
Not Used: Mason, Rasmussen.
Sin Bin: Noon (39), Collier (67).
Pens: Brown.
Att: 6,647
Ref: Wayne Barnes (Twickenham).
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