Curry twins dominate and back three flyers continue to press England claims as Sale Sharks hammer Newcastle Falcons
Tom Roebuck in action for Sale Sharks against Newcastle in the Premiership 2024.
Tom and Ben Curry showed Steve Borthwick that they are fit and raring to go after fine displays in Sale Sharks’ 43-10 demolition of struggling Newcastle Falcons.
The Curry twins have been forced to sit out a couple of games at the start of this season but they worked superbly in tandem on Friday as Sale secured their third win out of four.
They were both left out of Borthwick’s recent England training squad, but their efforts in Salford would have pleased the head coach.
One player who was involved in that 36 was Tom Roebuck and the wing was once again impressive as he touched down twice in the second half.
Roebuck, alongside his wing team-mate Arron Reed, also benefited from the work of full-back Joe Carpenter, who was deservedly named man of the match after a sparkling performance.
Englishman Carpenter set up Reed’s second try with a superb assist and was excellent under the high ball, producing the type of display which would have impressed Borthwick after he missed out on the training camp.
It all added up to a dominant performance from Sale, who moved up to second, while Newcastle remain at the foot of the Premiership table.
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Sale began brightly and opened the scoring inside the fifth minute when fly-half Rob du Preez kicked to the left corner for Reed to collect and touch down.
Du Preez kicked a superb conversion to improve Reed’s try and put the hosts 7-0 up.
Newcastle were dealt a blow with full-back Elliott Obatoyinbo forced off with a knock and replaced by Louis Brown.
Yet the Falcons, bolstered by the return of speedy winger Adam Radwan, initially steadied themselves from those early setbacks and began to make inroads inside Sale’s 22-metre line.
Their period of pressure forced the Sharks to defend stoutly, but it also led them to concede a penalty from a ruck which Ethan Grayson kicked to get the visitors off the mark.
From there the pendulum swung back in Sale’s favour as they went in search of a second try which arrived in the 22nd minute.
Full-back Joe Carpenter broke superbly inside the left channel and found Reed outside him with a neat pass which sent the winger racing clear to score his second try.
Du Preez’s second conversion made it 14-3 and Reed went close to a hat-trick when another fine move sent him racing down the left flank.
But moments later the hosts’ third score came with a penalty try, with Callum Chick sin-binned for collapsing a maul.
Reed was then forced off with a knock in the 33rd minute, but Will Addison was sent over the line following a short-range scrum and early the second half fellow winger Roebuck finished off a flowing move by touching down inside the right channel.
Newcastle hit back with a close-range score from Chick and Grayson converted, while Sale hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie was sin-binned, but the hosts ran out easy victors.
Roebuck produced a superb try late on, collecting a kick from Du Preez to touch down in the right corner for his second of the evening to underline his England credentials.
The teams
Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Will Addison, 12 Sam Bedlow, 11 Arron Reed, 10 Rob du Preez, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Tom Curry, 7 Ben Curry (c), 6 Ernst van Rhyn, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Ben Bamber, 3 James Harper, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Si McIntyre
Replacements: 16 Ethan Caine, 17 Tumy Onasanya, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Ben Bamber, 20 Dan du Preez, 21 Nye Thomas, 22 Tom Curtis, 23 Sam Dugdale
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Oli Spencer, 12 Cameron Hutchison, 11 Ben Stevenson, 10 Ethan Grayson, 9 Sam Stuart, 8 Callum Chick (c), 7 Tom Gordon, 6 Philip van der Walt, 5 John Hawkins, 4 Pedro Rubiolo, 3 Richard Palframan, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Adam Brocklebank
Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Luan de Bruin, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Freddie Lockwood, 20 Adam Scott, 21 Joe Davis, 22 Jack Metcalf, 23 Louis Brown
Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant Referees: Andrew Jackson, John Meredith
TMO: Rowan Kitt
