A youthful Sale Jets team eased away during the second half to beat a lively North Wales side at Heywood Road tonight
Following match report kindly supplied by Scott Lawson...
Sale Jets 26 RGC 1404 12, Heywood Road, Wednesday 14th March
RGC 1404 crossed the border and stood tall against the professional Sale Jets on Wednesday night. Head Coach Chris Horsman was proud of his players after the match “It was and outstanding performance from the team, to come here and take on a full-time team shows great character. We were in the game for 70 minutes and put a big marker down for North Wales rugby development.”
It was an energetic start by the home side and they showed their attacking intent from the opening whistle with a number of darting runs from the backline trying to get the first try. It was RGC that did open the scoring with their first attack after a clean break from centre Mike Jones splitting the Jets defence to score under the posts. Conversion from Rhodri Carlton Jones.
The play was soon back in RGC half with Sale trying to open up the field with some quick hands and feet, but the North Wales defence was strong. The referees whistle was going against RGC with Sale opting for scrums and quick tap penalties to get the try, they were asking the questions of RGC and the defence was answering everything with strong tackles with every attack. After 20 minutes the possession and territory was in Sales favour but the try evaded them with a number of forced knock- ons from big RGC tackles. Carlton -Jones right boot was proving an important outlet as he cleared RGC lines to give them some breathing space. When a run from Sales winger Taylor Welch looked like leading to a try Mareddyd Francis stepped up with the tackle of the half to stop him in his tracks.
The home side’s possession finally led to a try after 30 minutes with Charlie Amesbury crossing the line and Fowles converting to draw level. RGC were beginning to get stretched and gaps appeared with Sale soon taking the lead with another try down the left, this time Niall Crosley outpacing the RGC defence. Fowles converted 14-7.
RGC needed to get back into the game and showed great character from the restart, after winning the line out the pack powered over and Tom Parry came up with the ball and the try. It was an important try to end the half with and showed the results of the training sessions over the past few months. HT 14-12
The 2nd half started in the same fashion as the opening 40 minutes with Sale looking to attack with pace and the pressure soon led to a Jets try by Mark Jennings with a Fowles hitting the kick for a 21-12 lead. The RGC defence was being worked hard and the referees whistle was against the away side on a number of occasions in the break down. A quick tap penalty led to another Sale try with Tom Cruise driving over. 26-12.
RGC began to make inroads into the Sale half looking for they try to get them back in the game, but a few knock -ons and near defence splitting passes meant the try didn’t happen. Even in defeat RGC 1404 can be happy with the performance and take plenty of positives as they build towards Georgia’s visit to Eirias on 31st March, 7.30 KO.
Scoring (Jets first) 0-7, 7-7, 14-7, 14-12 (Half Time) 21-12, 26-12.
Scorers: Jets - Tries Amesbury, Crosley, Jennings, Cruse. Cons.Fowles (3)
RGC 1404 - Tries M.Jones, Parry. Con.Carlton-Jones
***********
The following report is from the Sales Sharks web-site - www.salesharks.com
Sale Jets 26-12 Rygbi Gogledd Cymru 1404
A youthful Sale Jets team eased away during the second half to beat a lively North Wales side at Heywood Road. After a quickfire first half, which included a yellow card for visiting loosehead prop Tom Hughes, there were just two points between the teams. Shorn of skipper Tommy Taylor, who 'turned' his ankle earlier in the day, the Jets had a second minute chance to score after a lineout drive, but were penalised for crossing. Four minutes later, the Gogs took the lead when inside centre Mike Jones raced away at speed from midfield to score the first try. Rhodri Carlton-Jones converted.
After nine minutes, visiting loosehead prop Tom Hughes was shown a yellow card, but the Jets didn't capitalise on his absence. The exchanges were vigorous, but ball retention levels were not high. The Jets spilled another promising position after Holmes had won a lineout well. Then, Kennedy burst through from a scrum, setting up Amesbury to pass to Fletcher. James broke clear, but Jennings fumbled the ball. It was frenetic but frustrating.
Jets equalised with half an hour gone. Hynes and Mullarkey made the initial charges before the ball was swept left for Charlie Amesbury to score a try. Nathan Fowles converted in fine style. RGC swiftly replied with a series of drives from rucks near the home line but they, too, were penalised for crossing. Six minutes later, Jets made it try two. Jennings made the initial break, bef the spare men on the left were made to count and outside centre Niall Crosley went over. Fowles again was 'on the spot' with the conversion.
There was still time for the Welsh side to score. They had two penalties in the right corner, kicked both for touch and after the second drove Tom Parry over for an unconverted try. The half time scoreboard read 14-12.
After the break, despite multiple changes by both sides, the Jets ran in two tries without reply. Their first raids on the resumption were like solid battering rams, with Flynn almost over. On 49 minutes, the pressure told as Mark Jennings found his way through, Fowles again converting. Replacement winger Marcus Webber moved in to replace him at scrum half shortly afterwards. Forward strength gained further reward on 68 minutes with hooker Tom Cruse forcing his way over for try four, which Redfern couldn't convert.
Probably due to the many replacements, the second half lacked the 'edge' of the first forty minutes and the game drifted towards a competent home win, with plenty of 'new' faces sampling the Heywood Road atmosphere and showing what they can do.
Although pleased to have won, Pete Anglesea felt that his side didn't look after the ball well enough during the first half. "We looked at a lot of the lads, and finished the game with only Sam James as a contracted player. We found out a lot about players. Tom Holmes did well, coming back after a long spell out through injury. The plan was always to give him 50 minutes, even though he wanted to carry on. He's got a full day's training tomorrow!"
Scoring (Jets first) 0-7, 7-7, 14-7, 14-12 (Half Time) 21-12, 26-12.
Scorers: Jets - Tries Amesbury, Crosley, Jennings, Cruse. Cons.Fowles (3)
RGC 1404 - Tries M.Jones, Parry. Con.Carlton-Jones
Sale Jets: 15.Charlie Amesbury, 14.Taylor Welch, 13.Niall Crosley, 12.Mark Jennings, 11.Elliot Fletcher, 10.Sam James, 9.Nathan Fowles, 1.James Flynn, 2.Tom Cruse, 3.George Hymes, 4.Tom Holmes (capt.), 5.George Sandford, 6.Sam Mullarkey, 7.Billy Emerson, 8.Danny Kennedy.
Replacements 16.Danny Waddy, 17.Simon Griffiths, 18. Tom McGuinness, 19.Dave Marwick, 20.Mike Finnemore, 21. Blake Mahovic, 22. Marcus Webber, 23. Josh Allen, 24. Kevin Penny, 25. Scott Redfern,.
There are no events to show yet.