George Ford gets the better of Handre Pollard as England stars take Sale Sharks to crucial Premiership victory

Sale Sharks’ England stars came to the fore as they boosted their play-off hopes with a 39-25 triumph over Leicester Tigers in the Premiership.

After a difficult Autumn Nations Series, George Ford was much better in the blue of Sale and had the better of the head-to-head with Springboks’ double Rugby World Cup winner Handre Pollard, while Luke Cowan-Dickie was superb in the middle of the scrum.

Cowan-Dickie was ably supported by fellow England front-rowers Bevan Rodd and Asher Opoku-Fordjour as they overturned an early deficit.

The Tigers had gone 8-0 in front via Nicky Smith’s try and Pollard’s penalty, but the Sharks went on to score 29 of the next 32 points.

Arron Reed touched down for a brace, while Dan du Preez, Rodd and Opoku-Fordjour also crossed the whitewash to put them on course for a big victory.

Freddie Steward and George Martin did respond for the visitors, but Cowan-Dickie rather aptly made sure of the win for Alex Sanderson’s men with the team’s sixth try.

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Sale endured a dreadful couple of games prior to the international break, conceding tries at will. They responded by changing the defence coach, with former player Byron McGuigan taking over, and their new-look rearguard got a heavy workout early on.

Under intense pressure from the Tigers, it initially held up well, but a consistent string of penalties meant the visitors would not relent.

With Michael Cheika’s men also dominating the scrum, that dam was eventually breached when Welshman Smith went over for his first Premiership try.

It was an excellent start from Leicester and they built on that promising opening as Pollard added a three-pointer for an 8-0 lead.

Nothing was going right for the Sharks but they finally found some field position and manufactured a try for Dan du Preez.

That gave them the foothold they needed to get on the front foot, despite Pollard moving the Midlanders six points ahead.

The scrum also started to turn around with Rodd getting the better of his England cohort Joe Heyes. As a result, it allowed playmakers Ford and Rob du Preez to dictate proceedings, and they managed to build pressure inside the 22.

With the maul working well, they were having joy at close quarters and that enabled Rodd to burrow over from close range.

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It gave the Sharks an unlikely lead at the interval and they took that momentum into the second period with a stunning three-try blitz.

All were scored in the opening 11 minutes of the half, with the first two coming through Scotland international Reed.

His opener was especially well worked as Luke James broke through and combined with Dan du Preez and Joe Carpenter to send the wing over the line.

The second was equally impressive if slightly less spectacular as Rob du Preez’s long pass was collected and finished by Reed.

Sale were rampant and a few minutes later recently capped England prop Opoku-Fordjour sped over the line when a hole opened up at a ruck.

When Heyes was sin-binned, Leicester were at risk of imploding, but they somehow gave themselves hope as Tom Curry’s pass was intercepted and kicked ahead for Izaia Perese to chase. The ball was then shifted right and Steward brilliantly finished in the corner to reduce the arrears.

Hanro Liebenberg then appeared to have touched down but he knocked on just short of the line and that error proved costly as Cowan-Dickie crossed the whitewash to seal the win for the Sharks.

Martin did go over for the Tigers but that proved to be mere consolation on a disappointing day for Cheika’s side.

The teams

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Rob du Preez, 12 Luke James, 11 Arron Reed, 10 George Ford, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Dan du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (c), 6 Tom Curry, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Bevan Rodd
Replacements: 16 Tadgh McElroy, 17 Si McIntyre, 18 James Harper, 19 JL du Preez, 20 Tom Burrow, 21 Sam Dugdale, 22 Raffi Quirke, 23 Will Addison

Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Izaia Perese, 12 Solomone Kata, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 5 Tom Manz, 4 George Martin, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Charlie Clare, 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Archie Vanes, 17 James Cronin, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Jed Holloway, 20 Emeka Ilione, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Jamie Shillcock, 23 Will Wand

Referee: Adam Leal
Assistant Referees: Hamish Smales and Peter Allan
TMO: Tom Foley

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