Sale Sharks upset London Wasps at Adams Park

Sale Sharks upset London Wasps 17-21 at Adams Park in the Aviva Premiership on Saturday afternoon.

Dan Braid’s try, aided by the accurate boot of Danny Cipriani, gave the Sharks
an early 10-0 advantage before successive Joe Carlisle penalties took Wasps
to within one point at the break.

Another Carlisle penalty and Joe Simpson’s touchdown looked to have completed
the turnaround for the High Wycombe-based outfit, but Johnny Leota’s score and
two more Cipriani three-pointers secured the win for Sale.

The visitors have been this season’s surprise package having overcome the previous
campaign’s travails to put them within striking distance of the top-four.

Against a Wasps side that had suffered three successive league defeats going
into this match, it was the Sharks that started the brighter.

Even before Joe Simpson’s yellow card for taking Nick Macleod out in the air,
Steve Diamond’s men were on the front foot.

However, Simpson’s sin-binning only served to put them under further pressure
and the indiscretion from the scrum-half allowed replacement pivot Cipriani
to put the Manchester outfit in front.

Veteran wing Mark Cueto then broke through the hosts’ rearguard before the
ball was shipped to Braid who touched down.

But Dai Young’s side found their composure and began to put pressure on the
away team’s defence, and three quick-fire Carlisle three-pointers reduced the
deficit to 10-9 at the interval.

The Wasps’ pivot added his fourth from the tee soon into the second period
before good work from Viliami Helu and Ashley Johnson sent Simpson across the
whitewash.

Despite the momentum seeming to be in the hosts’ favour, a piece of Cipriani
brilliance set-up Leota for a well worked score.

Sale’s fly-half then regained the advantage as they began to take control
of the scrum before the seven-times capped England international sealed the
win late on from the tee.

Final Score London Wasps 17 (9) Sale Sharks 21 (10)

Scorers

London Wasps
Tries – Simpson
Pen -Carlisle (4)
Con –
Drop –

Sale Sharks
Tries – Braid, Leota
Pen – Cipriani (3)
Con –
Drop –

Match Officials
Referee: Dean Richards (64th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: JP Doyle and Stuart Terheege.
TMO: Keith Lewis.

Teams

Wasps: 15 Tommy Bell, 14 Will Helu, 13 Andrea Masi, 12 Chris Bell (c), 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Sam Jones, 7 James Haskell, 6 Ashley Johnson, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 James Cannon, 3 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 2 Tom Lindsay, 1 Matt Mullan

Replacements: 16 Neil Cochrane, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Phil Swainston, 19 Tom Palmer, 20 Nathan Hughes, 21 Charlie Davies, 22 Andy Goode, 23 Charlie Hayter

Sale: 15 Tom Arscott, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Nick MacLeod, 9 Will Cliff, 8 James Gaskell, 7 Dave Seymour, 6 Dan Braid (c), 5 Michael Paterson, 4 Andrei Ostrikov, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Ross Harrison

Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 Eifion Lewis-Roberts, 18 Vadim Cobilas, 19 Jonathan Mills, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Danny Cipriani, 23 Sammy Tuitupou