Sale Sharks thrash struggling Newcastle Falcons
MATCH REPORT: Sale Sharks moved to second-place on the Premiership table following their 43-10 victory over Newcastle Falcons at the Selford Community Stadium on Friday.
Sale took a 28-3 lead at half-time after scoring within the first four minutes of the match when Arron Reed dotted down from a cross-field kick by Rob du Preez.
Newcastle enjoyed some territory in Sale's half and it paid off when flyhalf Ethan Grayson got the visitors on the board with a successful penalty attempt after Sale got penalised for a side entry at the ruck.
The Sharks responded with a try in the 21st minute after Joe Carpenter scooped up a loose ball and got his pass away to Reed who bagged a brace which Du Preez converted.
Things went from bad to worse for the Falcons after an illegally collapsed maul by captain Callum Chick in the 28th minute saw him yellow carded as the hosts were awarded a penalty-try.
Sale bagged their fourth and bonus-point try in the 36th minute off a five-metre attacking scrum when centre Will Addison went over from a hard midfield running line as Du Preez added the extras.
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Sale struck first in the second-half when Tom Roebuck got the score in the corner following multiple offloads by the Sharks in the build-up to the try.
Captain Chick made up for his earlier indiscretion in the 49th minute when he went over for the Falcons' first and only try of the evening from a pick and go from close-range following a great run by Cameron Hutchinson which saw Luke Cowan-Dickie yellow carded for illegally trying to prevent the try from being scored.
Robert du Preez slotted a successful penalty attempt to eat time off the Cowan-Dickie yellow card and extend his side's lead from in front of the posts.
Sale had the final say of the match in the 72nd minute of the match when Roebuck gathered a cross kick to bag a brace of his own to hand Newcastle their 25th defeat in a row in the Premiership.
"It's difficult to be happy, but to be fair we were beaten all over the shop," said Newcastle Director of Rugby Steve Diamond, a former Sale coach.
"We couldn't keep hold of the ball when we had it and when we turned it over they capitalised very well.
"Sale are a good team and when we come across teams like this we're going to struggle with the personnel that we've got out at the moment."
Newcastle's last win in the competition was in March 2023.
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Scorers:
For Sale Sharks:
Tries: Addison, Roebuck 2 , Reed 2, Penalty try does not require conversion.
Con: Du Preez 4
Pen: Du Preez
For Newcastle Falcons:
Try: Chick
Con: Grayson
Pen: Grayson
Yellow cards: Callum Chick (Newcastle Falcons -28th minute:Illegal collapse of a maul preventing a probable try), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks -49th minute: illegal atttempt to stop a try being scored).
Teams:
Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Will Addison, 12 Sam Bedlow, 11 Aaron Reed, 10 Rob du Preez, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Tom Curry, 7 Ben Curry (captain), 6 Ernst van Rhyn, 5 Hyron Andrews 4 Ben Bamber, 3 James Harper, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Si McIntyre.
Replacements: 16 Ethan Caine, 17 Tumy Onasanya, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Dan du Preez, 21 Nye Thomas, 22 Tom Curtis, 23 Sam Dugdale.
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Elliot Obatoyinbo, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Oli Spencer, 12 Cameron Hutchinson, 11 Ben Stevenson, 10 Ethan Grayson, 9 Sam Stuart, 8 Callum Chick (captain), 7 Tom Gordon, 6 Philip van der Walt, 5 John Hawkins, 4 Pedro Rubiolo, 3 Richard Palframan, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Adam Brocklebank.
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.
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant referees: Andrew Jackson (England), John Meredith (England)
TMO: Rowan Kitt (England)
With additional reporting by AFP.