Harlequins v Sale Sharks: Five takeaways as ‘old master’ outshines Marcus Smith with Lions prospect’s ‘overreaction’ costing his ‘positional sanity’
George Ford in action for Sale Sharks and Harlequins star Marcus Smith.
Following a 43-29 victory for Sale Sharks over Harlequins, here are our five takeaways from the Premiership clash at the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday.
The top line
On a day more suited to international wind sailing than professional rugby, Sale Sharks grabbed a vital bonus-point win on the road to consolidate their position as play-off challengers, with the potential to move to third in the Premiership depending on the outcome of other matches this weekend.
Sale’s scores came courtesy of their England contingent with Luke Cowan-Dickie, Tom Curry (2) Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Jonny Hill and Tom Roebuck all crossing as the visitors made use of the wind to build a first half lead.
Harlequins never really managed to get a foothold in the match despite a promising start that saw Danny Care and Alex Dombrandt combine to send Jack Kenningham over. The scoreline perhaps flattered them a little as they grabbed the four-try bonus-point. In point of fact, they almost put themselves in a position to make an unlikely comeback but Ben Waghorn’s speculative passing effort found Tom Roebuck and the England wing galloped in for Sale’s sixth.
The result removes any realistic likelihood of seeing Harlequins in the play-offs as they crashed to their fifth defeat in six matches as, for once, their timing of the run-in has deserted them.
Basics shine
On a day that started with a firework display blown at right angles from the howling north westerly down the Stoop, this was always going to be a match that rested upon the simple arts of set-piece and aerial excellence and it was Sale that dominated in all of those areas.
The understanding between George Ford, Arron Reed, Tom Roebuck and Joe Carpenter when it comes to the contestables is a real feature of Sale’s game. It’s intelligent and brilliantly orchestrated, with Ford often allowing his wings to put others onside and standing back away from the collision to make himself available for recycle and continuity. When that fails, Rob du Preez, surely one of the Premiership’s finest ever imports, is there to take over where Ford leaves off, giving Sale heaps of control on days such as this.
With Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Bevan Rodd having an exceptional afternoon in both the tight and their breakdown work, and Tom Curry delivering yet another thundering display, this was a performance from Sale that showed their appetite for qualification for the play-offs and, perhaps cruelly, showed us that Quins cannot wait for the end of the season to put their feet up and recharge.
The battle at number 10
In terms of Test and Lions selections, the head-to-heads across the pitch on Saturday offered a delightful variety of experience and promise.
At 10, the old master George Ford against the not so young tyro Marcus Smith was undoubtedly the pick of the battles. Ford is a man fully at peace with his rugby at the moment; precise, commanding and one of the best tacticians in the sport.
The 99-time capped outside-half once again showed the complete control he gives any side he plays for as he fused wonderfully accurate passing with some deadly accurate (and often wind assisted) kick plays. It was his control of territory that saw Sale score their first two tries from Cowan-Dickie and Curry, as Ford worked brilliantly with Carpenter and Roebuck in the aerial battle to set up field position.
However, watching Smith right now makes the viewer wonder if he’s as much at ease with his game as Ford is. Smith, perhaps due to being moved around the positions at Test level, appears to be really making an effort to add physicality into his game, but at what cost?
On a number of occasions he seemed to be intent on clearing rucks and making a point in defence at the cost of his own positional sanity. It’s almost certainly driven by an overreaction to perceptions, but right now it’s holding back his superpower – the ability to launch an attack like no-one else and perhaps he needs to accept that his paycheque is based upon his ability as a fly-half and not as a flanker.
Curry masterclass
Tom Curry, when questioned on his work-ons at a recent England training camp asked journalists “are you saying I don’t score enough tries? If so, I agree and I’m working on it!”
Prophetic words from the brilliant incumbent British and Irish Lions openside and ever since his sage comments, he’s been mining a seam of try-scoring consistency he’s rarely managed in his career until this point, so it was no surprise to see his huge shoulders walloping over for a brace of tries in yet another compelling display of the back-row arts.
Alongside the world-class flanker, his England hooking cohort, Luke Cowan Dickie, shone on both sides of the ball, offering lineout surety on a day with a howling wind, often finding another Sale and former England star, Jonny Hill, who was another of the visiting stars anxious to remind all of his Test credentials.
However, the man that shone brightest was young prop Opoku-Fordjour. The tighthead made some serious metres with ball in hand, one run setting up field position for the first Curry crossing and another ensuring that he himself managed to sneak onto the scorecard.
With Sale winning three scrum penalties and getting the better of the set-piece, it was a statement performance from the youngster and one that went a long way to securing the bonus-point win.
Test watch
With the British and Irish Lions heading to Australia, and England travelling to face Argentina and USA in the Americas this summer, there’s a lot of Test places up for grabs and this match saw a lot of hands put up for selection.
Up front, the whole Sale front-row, with Rodd putting in an immense effort of breakdown intensity, will be booking their plane tickets, with Cowan Dickie potentially taking the longest trip down under. But behind them, Hill is thought by many to be the missing link in England’s replacement and bench strategy and there’s few that can offer the sheer physicality of the Ludlow-born lock.
Talking of second-rows, Chandler Cunningham-South found himself on the other side of a prop’s buttock as his physicality really shone with him adding another potential dimension to his talents. The big fella looked for all money to have scored a galloping try in the corner but for a pass from Marcus Smith that went a smidgen forward.
In the backs, both Roebuck and Carpenter showed their ability to execute a match winning aerial plan whilst Cadan Murley, capped against Ireland earlier this season, looked as sharp as a tack in his finishing as he rounded Roebuck to crash over.
Add in some promise from Jack Kenningham in the loose and it’s clear a lot of these players may well travel with England – and, for our money, the outstanding player on the pitch, Ford, would be accompanying Tom Curry on the Lions tour to Australia.
