Sale own the battle of the Sharks in Manchester

Sale Sharks were never threatened in winning 26-10 against South Africa’s Sharks in Manchester. The result was predicable the moment the visitors sent a second-string team for the much hyped battle of the Sharks, writes Mark Keohane.

The owner of the Durban-based Sharks, Marco Masotti, has consistently ridiculed the Sales Sharks as nothing more than Sale Tuna, taking to social media saying there is only one rugby team with a Sharks identity, and that is his team, but Masotti’s boast was as limp as the Sharks performance on Saturday night.

Sale led 7-3 at halftime, extended that to 19-3 before adding the bonus point try in a comfortable second half performance.

The match, for the most, was not easy on the eye. The weather conditions did not make for a spectacle, but the error rate and poor decision-making were trademarks of a turgid evening, in rugby speak.

For Sale it was a great evening in getting five league points and advancing to the last 16 of the Investec Champions Cup.

Masotti’s Sharks, who lost the first round away to Toulouse, won at home against Saracens. They must beat Clermont, winless in three rounds, in Durban to advance to the last 16.

Sharks coach JP Pietersen made 14 changes to the starting XV that lost at home in the URC to the Lions and the youngsters, while committed, braved and dogged, were simply not good enough to beat a home team who were sub-par for most of the match.

Sale will battle to go beyond the last eight, given their player limitations, and it will take some effort for the Durban Sharks to win away from home in the play-offs, regardless of who they play.

The Investec Champions Cup should be a finishing school of the highest testing, but too many teams turn it into an Academy fixture on away trips.

Those teams who win the competition or make it to the final four have consistently played their best teams in away games and backed a mix and match to win at home. Think Toulouse, Leinster, Toulon, Saracens, La Rochelle and last season Bordeaux.

This season the Saints, last season’s finalists, went to Pretoria with their best possible line-up and won their Pool fixture. It set them up for the competition. Bordeaux, this season, did the same thing to the Bulls in Pretoria. So did Bristol on Saturday in putting 61 points past the Bulls in Pretoria.

Bath took their best team to Castres and won on Friday night.

There is no coincidence in who is winning away from home, when one looks at the match 23s selected.

The Durban Sharks missed a trick in Manchester. They have a frontline group good enough to have won on Saturday night. Instead, the most senior players, several of them current Springboks, watched from the comfort of their homes, with summer temperatures in excess of 30 degrees.

The youngsters who battled in Manchester may be the wiser for the experience, but it does little for the club’s identity or brand when they keep on sending second stringers to take a beating in Europe, especially when they have won just three from eight matches in the URC.

Sharks v Sharks – Investec Champions Cup: match statistics 

Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup – latest news SA Rugby Mag

*The Lions, having led 28-7 midway through the first half, scored a 78th minute converted try to edge France’s Lyon 42-33 at Ellis Park for a first win the EPCR Challenge Cup pool stages.

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