Sale too strong for London Irish as they coast to victory

Five-try Sale Sharks eased to a 37-14 victory over London Irish at the AJ Bell Stadium.

The home side started the game on the front foot and their dominance paid off when Dan du Preez barrelled over to open the scoring, with Rob du Preez adding the extras to give them an early 7-0 lead.

Rob du Preez extended the host’s lead, slotting over a penalty after the visitors had pulled down the scrum to make it 10-0 after 25 minutes.

On the stroke of half-time the home side pressed home their advantage when Joe Carpenter touched down in the left-hand corner after the ball had been spun through the backs.

Rob du Preez’s poor conversion attempt did not clear the uprights to make the score 15-0.

The visitors responded instantly through Ollie Hassell-Collins who picked up the loose ball after Sale spilled the restart and darted over in the corner, with Paddy Jackson’s impressive kick bringing the score to 15-7 at the break.

The hosts were on the scoreboard less than three minutes after the restart, Raffi Quirke’s box kick taking an awkward bounce that caught the Irish defence flatfooted, allowing Tom Roebuck to sneak in and touch the ball down, Rob Du Preez adding the conversion to push the lead to 22-7.

The visitors responded quickly, Benhard van Rensburg touching down in the corner after the ball had spilled loose from a lineout drive, Jackson again perfect with the kick to make the score 22-14.

The bonus point try came not too long after, Roebuck eventually finishing under the posts after several linebreaks, although he took a nasty hit from both his opposite number and the posts in the process of scoring the try. Du Preez added the extras to make it 29-14.

The visitors’ attempts to get back into the game never really amounted to much as a result of unforced errors, sloppy kicks or poor decision-making.

That sloppiness also slipped into their defending as a high tackle from Chandler Cunningham-Smith presented Rob du Preez with the opportunity to extend the lead further, which he took to make it 32-14 with just over ten minutes to play.

There was still time for one more try for the home side, another rolling maul allowing Ewan Ashman to get his name on the scoresheet to make it 37-14.

Replacement Tom Curtis couldn’t add the conversion and the home side saw the game out to claim top spot in the Gallagher Premiership.