Sale hold on to give Cardiff the Blues
Sale got their Heineken Cup campaign back on track at Edgeley Park
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By Matthew Champion. |  |
Friday, 16, Oct 2009 10:40
By Martyn Thomas.
Sale survived a late scare at Edgeley Park to beat Cardiff Blues 27-26 in the Heineken Cup.
Robert Sowden-Taylor setup a frantic finish when he capitalised on a mix-up on Sale's defensive line-out to score with minutes left. However, the Sharks held on to kick-start their European campaign after last week's defeat to Toulouse.
Cardiff had the better of the early exchanges and led 9-3 going into the final ten minutes of the first half.
Indeed, had Leigh Halfpenny connected with a couple of long range efforts, the lead could have been more than six points.
The game, though, was turned on its head in the 33rd minute as Sisa Koyamaibole took advantage of some good forward work to drive over.
If conceding the try wasn't bad enough, a questionable refereeing decision cost the Blues Andy Powell for ten minutes. After the Wales number 8 was harshly penalised for a late tackle on Dwayne Peel in the move that led to Koyamaibole's score.
Sale reaped immediate dividends from their man advantage. The Sharks overpowered the Blues' 7-man scrum and good work from Koyamaibole and James Gaskell set skipper Dean Schofield clear to score.
Cardiff's night was going from bad to worse and a great break from Lee Thomas could have stretched Sale's lead further.
As it was the Edgeley Park faithful only had to wait until the third minute of the second half, as Sale yet again hammered home their advantage at the scrum.
Gaskell capped a fine performance to score as Sam Warburton was left exposed.
However, with Powell now back on the field, the Blues were a different side. Within seven minutes, the Lion had scored to reduce the arrears.
And, with 14 minutes to go, a couple of Ben Blair penalties reduced the deficit to five points.
However, Charlie Hodgson looked to have extinguished any hopes of a Blues comeback with a 70th minute drop-goal. But, with just two minutes to go a sloppy line-out throw gave Cardiff just a glimmer of hope.
In the end though it was all too little too late as the Sharks ran down the clock to win.