Premiership: Sale 23-32 Bath: McConnochie double as leaders win
That ending looked unlikely in the first half as despite losing five players to England in their first-choice XI, Sale were still very competitive as they tried to extend their 11-11 run at the northern fortress A winning streak.
The forward passed the ball to within a meter of the post and when Rob du Preez sent a long ball over the post, Reed showed his talent by stepping into the cover and firing home. Finishing ability.
Du Preez converted a penalty but after Louis Schröder caused a mistake on the break, Bath attacked and McConnochie sprinted off the byline to close the gap.
Sale charged forward again and when Tom O’Flaherty picked up Carpenter’s tackle and was briefly blocked, Du Preez picked up and sprinted over blindside before adding a penalty , rescuing Serge again.
Bath hit back before the break, with McConnochie once again staying away from the home defence, and Russell’s conversion set the stage for the second half.
With Russell behind the scenes, Bath was outstanding for the next 40 minutes.
He appeared to set up Ojomo for a quick try, but the wide player fiddled with the ball on O’Flaherty’s shoulder and bumped it over, which was caught on video commentary.
Eight minutes later Bass cycled through 20 attacking phases and this time Russell’s cross found Joe Cokanasiga and when he was stopped Ojomo was unable to stop him as two tacklers were unable to stop him The attack was completed.
Russell’s conversion and subsequent free throw put him over the century mark on the season, and then he used some amazing quick thinking down the stretch to turn a difficult moment into a 13-point lead.
Reid fired through a rare opening for Bath but Russell soon converted the spot-kick wide when Sale was penalized for hitting the ball, despite Sale claiming he had not converted the spot-kick.
Carl Smith sprinted the length of the field and scored on a first-half wave.
Carpenter came through to make the final minutes interesting, but Russell converted Carl Smith’s shot and then added a late penalty to seal the victory.
