Tomos Williams puts paid to Sale comeback as Gloucester hold on
These days, almost the worst thing a team can do in the Premiership is rack up an early lead, such is the likelihood of a stirring comeback. Sure enough, Gloucester ran rings around a leaden-footed Sale for half an hour; sure enough, Sale spent the next half an hour bulldozing away at Gloucester’s line.
For much of the second half, it felt inevitable Sale would overturn the 22-3 deficit that faced them midway through the first, such was the inability of their hosts to gain a hold on the game that had been so firmly theirs. The referee, Jack Makepeace, was not a popular man, but Gloucester’s indiscipline yielded nearly 20 penalties for the visitors.
Even after Max Llewellyn finished his second try, for a bonus point, in the 59th minute, giving Gloucester vital breathing space at the height of the siege, Sale kept coming. Tom Roebuck’s try four minutes later kept Sale hopes alive for the final quarter of an hour, but Tomos Williams’s brilliant solo try in the dying minutes put an end to any hopes of a latest dramatic comeback win.
And so Gloucester leapfrog Sale, who started the match four places ahead of them in the table. What a way to do it. That first half-hour was another attacking masterclass in a league full of them. Last weekend, Sale journeyed to these parts and choked the most outrageous attacking side of the moment, Bristol, keeping them to nil on their patch. This weekend they were bewildered.
Gloucester’s first try, after five minutes, was an extraordinary display of handling and angles of running out of their own 22. The peerless Santi Carreras finished it, supporting Williams for the final pass, but his lightning hands a few seconds earlier and about 70 metres further back had sprung Josh Hathaway from deep in their own territory.
Llewellyn, playing on the wing, scored his first off a lineout a few minutes later, sent through Sale’s midfield by Seb Atkinson and stepping Tommy O’Flaherty for another virtuoso try. At that point, it was difficult to understand how Sale managed to keep out Bristol the week before, so soft was the defence.
Quick GuideYoungs and co make Rigg pay for yellow card
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Leicester battled to a much‑needed yet unconvincing win over struggling Exeter in a dour contest. The Tigers were the better side in the first half, but the visitors dominated the second period until Will Rigg was sent to the sin‑bin and the Chiefs can consider themselves unfortunate not to come away from Welford Road with at least a point.
Olly Cracknell, Cameron Henderson, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Ben Youngs scored Leicester’s tries, with Handré Pollard converting all four. For Exeter, some Henry Slade magic created two tries for Tom Wyatt, with Josh Hodge converting one. Slade added a penalty.
Exeter took a fourth-minute penalty from that Slade penalty but from their first period of pressure Leicester responded with a try from Cracknell, when the No 8 proved unstoppable from a five-metre scrum. Pollard converted to make it 7-3 at the end of a competitive but disjointed first quarter.
Leicester extended the lead when a half-break from Pollard gave Henderson the chance to crash over under the posts. Pollard converted, but his missed from a long-range penalty meant a 14-3 interval lead.
Two minutes after the restart, Exeter scored an excellent try with Slade’s crossfield kick being collected by Wyatt for the wing to race over and the Chiefs continued to have the better of the third quarter. Stu Townsend and Slade neatly combined to provide Wyatt with a walk-in score. Hodge took over the kicking from Slade and nailed the conversion from near the touchline to put his side in front.
With 15 minutes remaining, Exeter lost Rigg to the sin-bin for taking Freddie Steward out in the air and the Tigers immediately capitalised. A break from Dan Kelly tore the defence to shreds and, when the ball was recycled, Hassell‑Collins outflanked the cover to score.
Rigg was still absent when Youngs saw a gap to secure a scarcely deserved bonus point. PA Media
They were torn apart again early in the second quarter, another blur of hands and support lines, this time from the forwards, but Hathaway’s try was chalked off for a forward pass from Williams. It was marginal.
No matter, Hathaway scored from the next play, this time popping up on the right to run to the corner after sweet hands down the line. Carreras converted from the touchline for that 22-3 lead. Only for the drama to follow a very different plot.