The Prem
Sale (31) 57
Tries:R du Preez, Roebuck 3, Cowan-Dickie, van Rhyn, Reed 2, JibuluCons:Ford 6
Sin-bin:Cowan-Dickie (35 mins)
Newcastle (0) 5
Try:Obatoyinbo
Sin-bin:Clark (15 mins)
Tom Roebuck scored a hat-trick as nine-try Sale Sharks piled on the agony for the Prem’s bottom club Newcastle Red Bulls with a crushing 57-5 victory at the CorpAcq Stadium.
The England man’s opposite wing Arron Reed added two tries of his own and British and Irish Lions hero Luke Cowan-Dickie also grabbed a try on his return to action for his club.
With Rob du Preez and Ernst van Rhyn also scoring, the Sharks racked up the bonus-point in the first half as they raced to a 31-0 lead at the break.
Newcastle, who have now heavily lost their first two league games since the takeover by Red Bull in the summer, showed signs of a revival as the home side got sloppy and Elliott Obatoyinbo muscled his way over.
That was short-lived though as Nathan Jibulu scored for the third consecutive game and late scores from Reed and Roebuck made it nine Sale tries on the night and ensured the visitors’ eight-year wait for a win at the home of the Sharks continued.
Newcastle fans had hoped that the addition of their club to the Red Bull sporting stable might bring an upturn in their fortunes, with new players and a new head coach heading to Kingston Park.
That has made little difference so far as the Geordies shipped 77 points in defeats by Saracens and Exeter Chiefs, and have now lost the Northern “derby” by a record scoreline.
For Sale, the big win was a perfect pick-me-up after last week’s defeat by champions Bath as they continue to ensure their home on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal remains a fortress.
Alex Sanderson’s side were quick out of the blocks with du Preez, who this week announced he will leave the club at the end of the season, following Gus Warr down the blindside for an easy opening try and Roebuck carving through a sluggish defence for another.
Max Clark was yellow-carded for repeat infringements as Sale hammered away at the Newcastle line and Cowan-Dickie took advantage by forcing his way over.
Skipper Van Rhyn marked his 50th Sale appearance with the bonus-point try and even the sin-binning of Cowan-Dickie could not stop Sale as Reed dribbled du Preez’s lovely kick over the line for a great finish.
Obatobinyo’s first try since March 2023 gave Newcastle a glimmer of hope, as did the debut of excitingArgentina scrum-half Simon Benitez Cruzfrom the bench but it was all short-lived.
South African centre Marius Louw sent Roebuck through for his second, and hooker Nathan Jibulu made up for his malfunctioning lineout work by making it a try in each of his first three Prem games for the club.
Jibulu’s break then teed up Reed’s second try and Roebuck completed his hat-trick with five seconds left on the clock, while George Ford ended the evening with six conversions.
Newcastle head coach Alan Dickens told My Newspaper Radio Newcastle:
“We gave Sale a lot of opportunities. It wasn’t the start we had talked about in the week and that was disappointing.
“What we talked about at half-time was the need to stick together and, for a long period of time in that second half, I thought we did, probably up to 72 minutes and then Sale scored three quick tries and ran away with it.
“We gave them too much time on the ball and when you do that with such a quality player [George Ford] he’s going to pull the strings and put people in holes.
“The cohesion is going to take some time to come together [it’s] not a quick fix.”
Sale:Carpenter; Roebuck, R. du Preez, Louw, Reed; Ford, Warr; Rodd, Cowan-Dickie, Opoku-Fordjour, Bamber, Andrews, van Rhyn, Woodman, Dugdale.
Replacements:Jibulu, McIntyre, Harper, Burrow, Caine, Quirke, O’Flaherty, Bedlow.
Newcastle:Grayson; Obatoyinbo, Doherty, Clark, Hearle; Chamberlain, Elliott; Brocklebank, McGuigan, Palframan, Hodgson, Clarke, Lee-Warner, Gordon, Mafi.
Replacements:Fletcher, Rewcastle, McCallum, Usher, Neild, Cruz, Connon, Spencer.
Referee:Joe James
