Warriors impress in defeat at Sale - The Worcester Observer

Warriors impress in defeat at Sale

Worcester Editorial 26th Aug, 2014 Updated: 19th Oct, 2016   0

THE RESULT seemed all but inevitable having suffered five straight defeats to Sale Sharks last season.

But it was the performance at the AJ Bell Stadium on Saturday, which director of rugby Dean Ryan believes was incomparable to their previous attempts.

A penalty try followed by scores from former Warriors full back Tom Arscott and Will Cliff secured the Premiership side victory.

But with youngsters such as Val Rapava Ruskin, Mike Daniels and Christian Scotland-Williamson fronting up against their more experienced opponents, Ryan said there were plenty of positives to take from their afternoon’s work.




“We brought a very young group up here knowing that Sale were going to use this as the main springboard into their Premiership season,” he said.

“We had five or six players around the age of 20 competing against a fully loaded European side and I thought we stayed in the contest very well.


“They were a little more clinical than us but physically I thought we did very well. We played them five times last year and not once did we balance out physically like we did today.

“It will give us a platform to grow. We’ve got one more pre-season match against Premiership opposition and we’ve got four or five decent players to come into this side, so I’m really pleased that we’ve had a good look at everyone.”

One rising star who once again stood up to the task was talented fly half Tiff Eden. The academy ace slotted home a penalty after his opposite number Danny Cipriani kicked Sale into the lead.

The visitors began to dominate proceedings and nearly got the first try of the afternoon when James Percival was held up on the try-line. Warriors did take the lead for the first time in the match minutes later as Eden added his second penalty of the afternoon.

But the match soon changed when Rapava Ruskin was sent to the sin-bin before Sale were awarded a penalty try on the half hour mark, which Cipriani dispatched.

Warriors then suffered a further blow just before the interval as Tom Brady fed the ball to Arscott, who raced through to score and move 15-6 clear.

Ryan gave a first appearance of the season to the likes of Jonny Arr, Alex Grove and Josh Watkins as Warriors looked to reduce the deficit in the second half.

Sale were holding firm, though, as Worcester could only manage a penalty from Eden on the 66th minute. Crucially, though, it was the hosts who struck next as replacement Cliff went over with five minutes left.

This all but sealed the tie as Joe Ford added the extras, but Warriors’ refused to give in and scored at the death when Ben Howard raced over, which Eden converted.

Caption: Mike Williams powers through a gap against Sale Sharks. Picture by Andy Baldwin.

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