The much anticipated and hyped match between London Irish and Sale Sharks proved to be a mouth watering encounter with both sides equally matched and capable, though it was London Irish who managed to grab a late winner and earned four very valuable points.
The game started off great with both sides proving to be good competitors. Both the teams, the London Irish and the Sale Sharks, did just about enough to contain the other side. Sale Sharks had a dream start when Nick Macleod added to the conversion and put the team in front. He then kicked a brilliant penalty to make sure that the Sale Sharks were ten points ahead of the London Irish.
Sale were controlling the tempo and the ball of the match but could dominate only for the first ten minutes, which is when the London Irish got into the game properly. They started defending properly and ensured that they got good possession. They even came very close to scoring but Delon Armitage was tackled just a few metres shy of the line. They did manage to convert it and cut down the lead to three points.
Irish started dominating the game after that and had two excellent attacking chances where they should have scored but needed to be more clinical in their approach. Tposy Ojo was at his best when he opened his legs with his trademark line break just a few moments before half time, giving the Irish the lead at the break, like our rugby betting tips had predicted.
It was the Sharks who made a better start to the second half, though it didn’t take too long for London Irish to retaliate. The Sale Sharks put a lot of pressure on the London Irish but they held on to their position and ensured that their team spirit was not broken.
With just four minutes remaining into the game, it was the London Irish who forced a penalty from their opponents which was duly converted and ensured that it was London Irish who left the field victorious. Sale will rue the missed opportunities, not least because they wanted to be higher up the table when the international break happened. Sale will sorely miss their internationals, who will be doing their bit to help their countries beat the Six Nations odds rather than helping Sale.