Manoa hat-trick Northampton Saints thump Sale

Northampton Saints scored six tries on their way to a 43-10 bonus point thumping of Sale Sharks at Franklins Gardens in the Aviva Premiership on Saturday.

The hosts took control of the game from the outset and there was first-half
tries for Pisi brothers; George and Ken, as well as the American second-row,
Manoa’s first try.

The powerful Manoa added a further two tries of his own in the second-half,
before Kahn Fotuali’i added gloss on the victory after Mark Jennings’ consolation
try for the visitors.

Sale immediately took the game to the Saints, Danny Cipriani kicking an early
penalty to the corner before his side undid their good work by holding onto
the ball.

Stephen Myler was then presented with an opportunity from the tee after the
Sharks were pinged offside – and he made no mistake in putting the first points
on the board.

After a cagey opening 15 minutes, Pisi opened the scoring with some dancing
footwork to race past Johnny Leota down the left flank to go over for the first
try of the game.

Myler was unable to slot the conversion, but the home fans only had to wait
a further five minutes to be on their feet again.

Manoa picked up a loose Sharks lineout and then broke forward to score. Cipriani
reduced Sharks arrears only for Saints to go further in the lead.

A perfectly-weighted cross field kick by Myler was snatched out of the air
by Ken Pisi, who fed through his onrushing brother for an easy score to leave
the hosts comfortable at the break.

Northampton thought they had the bonus point wrapped up within moments of the
restart through the efforts of Courtney Lawes, but the England lock was comfortably
in touch.

But fellow second-row Manoa was not done scoring as replacement Phil Dowson
cunningly handed the ball off from the back of a maul, allowing the American
international to dive over.

And almost immediately after that effort, the Californian barged over the whitewash
again – following another punishing maul – to put the reigning champions in
total control.

Shortly after the hour mark Tom Brady broke from deep to spark a Jennings try
but fresh from the bench, Fotuali’i collected a bobbling ball from a Northampton
scrum to make the result even more emphatic.

Final Score Northampton Saints 43(22) Sale Sharks 10 (3)

Scorers

Northampton Saints
Tries – K Pisi, Manoa (3), G Pisi, Fotuali’i
Pen – Myler
Con – Myler (4), Wilson
Drop –
Cards –

Sale Sharks
Tries – Jennings
Pen – Cipriani
Con -Ford
Drop –
Cards –

Match Officials
Referee: Andrew Small (110th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Simon McConnell and Roger Baileff.
TMO: Keith Lewis.

Teams

Northampton

15 Ben Foden, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Jamie Elliott, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Samu Manoa, 7 Jon Fisher, 6 Tom Wood (capt), 5 James Craig, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Salesi Ma’afu, 2 Mike Haywood, 1 Alex Waller.

Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Christian Day, 20 Calum Clark, 21 Kahn Fotuali’i, 22 James Wilson, 23 George North.

Sale Sharks

Luke McLean, Tom Brady, Jonny Leota, Mark Jennings, Tom Arscott, Danny Cipriani, Chris Cusiter, Ross Harrison, Marc Jones, Vadim Cobilas, Josh Beaumont, Michael Paterson, Magnus Lund, David Seymour (Capta