Julian Salvi caps Leicester’s comeback to leave Sale heartbroken

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/dec/27/sale-leicester-premiership-match-report

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The match announcer summed events up: “That was heartbreaking,” he said, as Sale trudged off after a game they had looked likely to win when Sam Tuitupou raced clear five minutes after the break to score a fourth try for a 30-15 lead.

Yet Leicester, clearly out of sorts, managed to regroup sufficiently to edge a match in the final stages through a try from Julian Salvi, the flanker, who was bundled over by his fellow forwards. Owen Williams, the replacement fly-half for Freddie Burns, added the crucial conversion to complete a comeback ignited by Miles Benjamin’s try in the 57th minute.

It left Richard Cockerill, Leicester’s director of rugby, reckoning the victory could be crucial in helping to give the Tigers new momentum following a tough spell which has brought defeats to Toulon and Northampton in successive weeks. “Our ability to get ourselves into a deep hole was remarkable. But credit to the players, they played themselves out and got themselves into position to win the game,” he said.

For Sale, the only consolation was two bonus points for scoring four tries and losing by fewer than seven points. But nothing could hide Steve Diamond’s disappointment after taking “two points out of a game we should have won”.

He bemoaned his team’s lack of experience in closing out big games, while indiscipline also cost them, especially a sin-binning late on for Will Addison, and a string of penalties which enabled Leicester to build the pressure which led to Salvi’s try.

Diamond added: “It was nip and tuck but they showed a bit more experience in the last 15 minutes. We were slightly ill-disciplined and let them get a sniff. They are a good side and used to winning games like that.”

Three first-half tries had given Sale a 25-15 lead at the break though, overall, it was the missed chances which proved crucial, especially the decision by the referee, Tim Wigglesworth, and his video man, David Grashoff, to rule that full-back Mike Haley had knocked on in trying to touch down in the 12th minute.

Sale played some tremendous rugby enthused by the crispness of Chris Cusiter’s distribution and a backline willing to run led by Tuitupou and Danny Cipriani. Cusiter, the scrum-half, scored Sale’s first try in the fourth minute, catching out the visiting defence on the blindside at a ruck. Though Leicester scored successive tries through Seremaia Bai and Mathew Tait, the home team enjoyed a dominant final 10 minutes of the half to build that 25-15 lead.

Addison beat the Leicester cover to score in the right corner to be followed by Nathan Hines’ try just before half-time, which Cipriani converted to go alongside three other successful kicks in the half.

When Tuitupou rocketed out of a ruck to score Sale’s fourth try early in the second half the home support celebrated as if it was the crucial score. However, Leicester are the most stubborn team in the Premiership and their resilience shone through, despite a defence which Cockerill described as “limp-ish”.

Cockerill, who had named a team showing eight changes from the defeat by Northampton last week, reshuffled his big resources to change the course of the match. A new front row – including the mighty Tom Youngs and Marcos Ayerza – brought new energy alongside the decision to introduce new half-backs in Williams and Sam Harrison at scrum-half for Ben Youngs.

Benjamin started the comeback in the 57th minute and the Leicester pack dominated the final quarter, culminating in Salvi’s try and Williams’ conversion.