Wasps power to victory over Sale Sharks

Wasps solidified their place in the Aviva Premiership top four by beating Sale Sharks 39-12 with a bonus point.

Wasps outscored Sale Sharks by five tries to two in the match and they move up to third place in the standings.

Early tries from Charles Piutau and Rob Miller put the home side in the ascendency, before going on to score three more.

Sale looked to stage a second-half come back with Wasps down to 14, but they were once again played off the park once Jake Cooper-Woolley returned from the sin-bin.

After successfully claiming the kick-off, Nathan Hughes made a great break through the Sale defence before finding Charles Piutau to carry over after just 24 seconds. Jimmy Gopperth added the extras with his first attempt of the game.

Just five minutes later Miller scored Wasps’ second of the game, after quick hands from the Piutau brothers set the full-back through to the try line. Gopperth pulled his kick wide meaning the score stayed at 12-0.

Two penalties from the Wasps fly-half added six more points to the total, before an Ashley Johnson try, converted by Gopperth, made the score 25-0 at half time.

Shortly after the break, Wasps found themselves down to 14 men with Cooper-Woolley in the bin, and it took just two minutes for the visitors to make the numerical advantage count as captain David Seymour carried over. Cipriani added the extras.

The Sharks then scored their second with Wasps still a man down, as Neil Briggs found a gap to carry round the corner and dab down on the left wing. Cipriani missed the conversion.

With Cooper-Woolley returning to the fray, Gopperth was able to pick up from the back of a ruck and reach for the try line to secure the attacking bonus point, before converting it himself.

Christian Wade then took the opportunity to dance past the on-rushing Sale defenders and touch down just to the right of the posts, giving Ruaridh Jackson a simple conversion to round off the 39-12 victory.

With five minutes remaining, both teams found themselves finishing the game with 14 men, as Johnny Leota was shown a red card for kicking out at Tom Bristow, who was shown to the sin-bin for his reaction.

Final Score Wasps 39 (25) Sale Sharks 12 (0)

Scorers

Wasps
Tries – Piutau, Miller, Johnson, Gopperth, Wade
Pen – Gopperth (2)
Con – Gopperth (3), Jackson
Drop –

Sale Sharks
Tries – Seymour, Briggs
Pen –
Con – Cipriani
Drop –

Match Officials
Referee :Dean Richards (87th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Paul Burton & Andy Watson.
TMO: Sean Davey.

Teams

Wasps

15. Rob Miller, 14. Christian Wade, 13. Charles Piutau, 12. Siale Piutau, 11. Frank Halai, 10. Jimmy Gopperth, 9. Dan Robson, 8. Nathan Hughes, 7. Thomas Young, 6. Sam Jones (c), 5. Kearnan Myall, 4. James Cannon, 3. Jake Cooper-Woolley, 2. Ashley Johnson ,1. Simon McIntyre

Replacements : 16. Carlo Festuccia, 17. Tom Bristow, 18. Phil Swainston, 19. Will Rowlands, 20. Alex Rieder, 21. Jamie Stevenson, 22. Ruaridh Jackson, 23. Brendan Macken

Sale Sharks

Mike Haley, Tom Brady, Jonny Leota, Mark Jennings, Nev Edwards, Danny Cipriani, Peter Stringer, Ross Harrison, Neil Briggs, Brian Mujati, Jonathan Mills, Andrei Ostrikov, Magnus Lund, David Seymour (Captain), Mark Easter

Replacements : Cameron Neild, James Flynn, Ciaran Parker, TJ Ioane, Viliami Fihaki, James Mitchell, Joe Ford, Sam James