Sale 12 Saracens 18
There could be little doubt who was the main winner on Manu Tuilagi’s big night. Mark McCall got the better of his one-time apprentice Alex Sanderson, and in doing so, pretty much secured Saracens a play-off semi-final spot.
McCall’s side recovered from a powerful Sale start to wear down their hosts, as two Ben Earl tries made the win look fairly comfortable in the end.
Tuilagi’s return from a hamstring injury, after missing England’s Six Nations campaign, buoyed the home crowd, but it was always too much to expect that he could rescue a game on his own. Instead, the Sale support had to be satisfied with a crunching tackle on Earl, and a few other glimpses of the quality that both club and country have missed so much.
For McCall, this was just the response he wanted from his Saracens players after last weekend’s unconvincing victory over Bristol, and demonstrated impressive focus in a week where the director of rugby has emerged as a contender for the England job.
McCall did not want to comment on that – saying “I don’t know what you’re talking about” when asked about suggestions that he might be the man to replace Eddie Jones after next year’s World Cup.
Instead, he preferred to focus on the way his team overcame a testing start against physical opposition to impose their will on Sale.
“The game was a huge arm wrestle,” he said. “They probably had the better of it in the first half and we got the better of it in the second half.
“We put ourselves under a little bit of pressure with some poor penalties, but what pleased us most was the level of fight and togetherness we had in our 22 to see out those tough moments. And we were good enough to take our chances when they came along.”
It was hard to argue with that assessment. A quarter of the way through the match, McCall looked set for a long night. Sale, who had to overcome to loss to injury of South African prop Coenie Oosthuizen in the warm-up, had enjoyed the bulk of the possession up to that point, and led 6-0 through two Rob du Preez penalties.
The second of those penalty awards prompted one of the night’s major talking points. Saracens scrum-half Aled Davies barged Faf de Klerk into touch, tackling without the arms.
Referee Luke Pearce called television match official Stuart Terheege on to the field to discuss the incident, but Davies avoided a yellow card as it was ruled he had struck De Klerk with his back rather than his shoulder, having been accidentally shoved into the challenge by team-mate Vincent Koch – with a penalty deemed sufficient punishment.
Gradually, Saracens forced their way back in, aided by some Sale indiscipline. Alex Lozowski should have done better with two missed penalties, with the first – which looked a straightforward kick after Alex Goode was taken out – an inexplicable failure.
