Sale survive Gloucester fightback to maintain Premiership play-off hopes despite Rob Du Preez dismissal

Sale Sharks 25 Gloucester 22

This match was at times as wacky as it was thrilling, and with 10 minutes remaining it would have taken a brave soul to wager that Sale would record their fourth successive home victory and keep the pressure on the Gallagher Premiership’s top two.

The effort from the Sharks was Herculean and at no point did they trail, but they made life hard for themselves. Fly-half Rob Du Preez was sent off in the first half for a violent tip tackle on Gloucester prop Val Rapava-Ruskin, and the home side conspired to throw away a 14-point, second-half lead before a late salvo secured the victory.

Gloucester fought back to tie the scores, exploiting widening gaps and tiring legs. Full-back Santiago Carreras scored from a gorgeous Billy Twelvetrees pass, which was followed up by the try of the afternoon from replacement scrum-half Willi Heinz, a move which involved some deft Gloucester touches but was ignited by a brilliant pass from centre Mark Atkinson.

With 15 minutes to go and the scores tied, the visitors would have fancied their chances. They even had a late, and possibly winning, try ruled out – Atkinson crossed, only for the TMO to highlight an infringement in the build-up – before a late AJ MacGinty penalty sealed the win for Sale.

Alex Sanderson, the Sharks’ director of rugby, spoke of his “privilege” after the match: “On the back of 12 weeks of competition, three weeks on the road, a massive loss against La Rochelle and, putting it into that context, it’s not just the red – it’s all that’s gone before. Look how deep they dug. I couldn’t be prouder of that group of lads, that’s what I told them inside; I’m so privileged to be a part of it. It’s massive.”

His opposite number, George Skivington, rued Gloucester’s approach to playing against 14 men.

“I thought we were playing better when it was 15 on 15,” he said. “The lads brought the physicality and were organised, but them losing a player actually knocked us off and we started playing a little bit differently than how we set out.

“It was disappointing how we managed it, but the effort and the physicality were there,” he added.

One area in which Sale exposed Gloucester was in the fly-half defensive channel, where George Barton and replacement Billy Twelvetrees were left isolated in trying to chop down wave after wave of Sale’s midfield timber. The Sharks’ first try came off the back of their ascendancy in that area, with Rob Du Preez busting the line and captain Faf De Klerk scampering over to give his side a deserved early lead.

But Gloucester’s lightning back three were always going to play more than a supporting role in proceedings. Wing Jonny May, on his 150th appearance for the club, cancelled out Sale’s feisty opening as he outsprinted their cover to collect and touch down an intelligent kick from his No 8 Ruan Ackermann.

Gloucester seldom had an acceptable answer to Sale’s muscle, however, and, when it was fused with brains, it was virtually unstoppable. Gloucester discovered that when centre Sam James’s beautifully-timed inside pass sent wing Arron Reed skating to the line, shrugging off defenders to score.

Then came the game’s most enthralling passage, in which a through-the-legs pass in his own 22 from Gloucester lock Ed Slater, a colossus all match, ignited a period of circus rugby that saw the ball kept alive – with end-to-end interceptions aplenty – for what seemed like aeons. Barton restored order with a penalty just before half-time to keep his side in touching distance.

When wing Marland Yarde wriggled his way over for Sale – with help from the cutest dummy angle by prop Coenie Oosthuizen – even with 25 minutes to play and a man down the Sharks’ 14-point lead seemed as if it would be enough. And, despite Gloucester’s pair of second-half scores, it was.

Match details

Scores: 5-0 De Klerk try, 7-0 R Du Preez con, 7-5 May try, 12-5 Reed try, 12-8 Barton pen, 15-8 MacGinty pen, 20-8 Yarde try, 22-8 McGinty con, 22-13 Carreras try, 22-15 Twelvetrees con, 22-20 Heinz try, 22-22 Twelvetrees con, 25-22 MacGinty pen.

Sale Sharks: L James, A Reed (AJ MacGinty 27), S James, R Janse van Rensburg (S Hammersley 64), M Yarde, R Du Preez, F De Klerk (c) (W Cliff 59); R Harrison (V Morozov 65), A Van Der Merwe (C Langdon 59), C Oosthuizen (J Harper 65), C Wiese, J-P Du Preez, J-L Du Preez (C Neild 53), T Curry, D Du Preez.
Red card: R Du Preez (24).
Gloucester: S Carreras (K Moyle 63), L Rees-Zammit, C Harris, M Atkinson, J May, G Barton (B Twelvetrees 37), C Chapman (W Heinz 43); V Rapava-Ruskin (A Seville 63), J Singleton (H Walker 63), F Balmain (J Ford-Robinson 63), E Slater, A Craig (M Garvey 73), J Clement (B Morgan 54), L Ludlow, R Ackermann.
Referee: Adam Leal.