Cipriani boots Sale Sharks to victory over Bath

Sale Sharks secured their third victory from five Aviva Premiership matches when they beat Bath 19-13 at the AJ Bell Stadium on Friday.

Both teams scored a try a piece but Danny Cipriani was the difference between the teams as he kicked three penalties converted Sale’s try and also kicked a drop goal.

The result moves Sale Sharks up to fifth place in the Aviva Premiership standings.

Bath held on to their fourth place and took a losing bonus point from the match.

Sale Sharks fly-half kicked 14 points and pulled the strings in attack for
a Sharks outfit that largely out-muscled Bath in the physical exchanges.

Cipriani also put his body on the line in defence, one flying tackle denying
Bath replacement Alafoti Faosiliva a spectacular score shortly after the former
Bristol number eight had come onto the field as first-half injury cover for
Leroy Houston.

Both Cipriani and opposite number George Ford missed early shots at goal before
the Sale man got his side’s account up and running with a three-pointer on 11
minutes.

Bath responded with a well-taken Semesa Rokoduguni try after the in-form winger
burst onto a pass from Peter Stringer and used his pace and side-step to beat
the covering defence. Ford converted.

A Cipriani penalty closed the gap to a single point and Sale then took the
lead for the second time through Andrew Forsyth’s 31st minute try.

Sale’s forwards did the donkey work with a superb lineout drive and the backs
supplied the finishing touch with some quick handling to put the centre away
in the left-hand corner. Cipriani added the extras.

Ford and Cipriani again exchanged penalties to make the half-time score 16-10
in Sale’s favour.

Both fly-halves were on target again to provide the only points of the third
quarter.

Michael Paterson’s sin-binning for kicking the ball away in the ruck threatened
to turn the game Bath’s way as the clock ticked past the hour mark, but Sale
kept their line intact with some determined defending.

Cipriani’s replacement, Joe Ford, had the chance to deny Bath a losing bonus
point at the death but his 35-metre kick was wide of the mark.

Final Score Sale Sharks 19 (16) Bath 13 (10)

Scorers

Sale Sharks
Tries – Forsyth
Pen – Cipriani 3
Con – Cipriani
Drop – Cipriani

Bath
Tries – Rokoduguni
Pen – Ford 2
Con – Ford
Drop –

Match Officials
Referee: Andrew Small (90th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Stuart Terheege and Paul Burton
TMO: Trevor Fisher.

Teams

Sale Sharks

Rob Miller, Phil McKenzie, Andy Forsyth, Jonny Leota, Mark Cueto, Danny Cipriani, Dwayne Peel, Eifion Lewis Roberts, Tommy Taylor, Vadim Cobilas, Jonathan Mills, Michael Paterson, Dan Braid (Captain), David Seymour, Mark Easter

Replacements: Marc Jones, Ross Harrison, Henry Thomas, Kirill Kulemin, Andrei Ostrikov, Will Cliff, Joe Ford, Sammy Tuitupou

Bath

15. Ollie Devoto, 14. Semesa Rokoduguni, 13. Jonathan Joseph, 12. Kyle Eastmond, 11. Tom Biggs, 10. George Ford, 9. Peter Stringer, 1. Paul James, 2. Ross Batty, 3. David Wilson, 4. Stuart Hooper ( c ), 5. Will Spencer, 6. Matt Garvey, 7. Guy Mercer, 8. Leroy Houston

Replacements : 16. Tom Dunn, 17. Anthony Perenise, 18. Kane Palma-Newport, 19. Carl Fearns, 20. Alafoti Fa’osiliva, 21. Martin Roberts, 22. Ben Williams, 23. Gavin Henson