Sale Sharks heap more misery on troubled Harlequins

Harlequins’ troubled start to the Gallagher Prem season continued with a third successive loss of the campaign against Sale at CorpAcq Stadium in Salford.

The Sharks left it late but came from behind to snatch a 28-24 success with a 73rd-minute penalty try, after the returning Marcus Smith had touched down twice in the opening quarter to threaten a shock win for the visitors.

After their opening-day reverse to Bristol at home, Sale have bounced back strongly with back-to-back wins over Saracens and Quins.

But despite their first points of the season, the loss leaves Jason Gilmore’s team – who suffered their worst league defeat in 26 years last weekend, a 48-0 humbling by Gloucester – rooted to the foot of the table.

With Smith involved for the first time this season after a finger injury, the visitors made seven changes on the back of that embarrassment.

This was a big improvement on that toothless display but, with a late power surge, Sale found a way to chalk up what was their fifth successive win against Harlequins in the league and Europe.

Quins, who had two tries disallowed before the interval, deserved their 17-14 half time lead.

They made a fast start with hooker Sam Riley giving them a third-minute lead, diving over in the corner after Smith and George Furbank had combined in midfield.

Five minutes later Smith was over after a beautiful tip pass from Furbank had freed Luke Northmore down the right wing.

Sale hit back in the 11th minute with a superb try of their own from Fijian number eight Elia Canakaivata on his first Prem start, with Jacques Vermeulen suspended after his red card against Saracens.

Smith went through some weak defence for his second try in the 19th minute and only a brilliant cover tackle from O’Flaherty prevented the England man grabbing his hat-trick inside the first half hour.

Sale cut the deficit two minutes before the break with scrum-half Gus Warr going over after some nice work in midfield from Alex Lozowski.

With the Sharks conceding too many penalties, Riley was mauled over for Quins’ bonus-point try in the 53rd minute.

But when Sale finally were able to hold onto possession, second row Ben Bamber crossed after an initial break by Nicky Smith.

Quins pressed again but a crucial lineout steal from Courtney Lawes dug the Sharks out of a hole.

Then Chandler Cunningham-South was unable to find Cadan Murley after intercepting George Ford’s pass.

But then Sale’s pack got rumbling with seven minutes left, mauling Quins back 30 metres before Riley pulled it down close to the tryline and conceded a penalty try. The hooker was sent to the sin-bin and the visitors, chasing the game short-handed, could not find a way back.

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The talented centre once emptied rubbish bins by night while training by day, and is determined to seize his opportunity in England’s Gallagher Prem.

The young scrum-half has been widely touted for an England debut next month, but is there room at Northampton for McParland and Alex Mitchell?

After two years playing at the Aviva, Leinster return to their more ‘intimate’ home where they enjoyed a formidable winning record.

No the would have just come for school or say in Tavatavanawai case to play club rugby and learn how to put up plasterboard the amount of dudes who come over to play rugby get education and or skills to work or just to work far outnumber the ones who go on to rep NZ or Oz.The dudes that go pro can play wherever they like and many do if they want to play for ABs or Wallabies what’s wrong with that ?…

No doubt JW and he has been there done that before he might need to suit up u less Wallace can play open side which he could I suppose but don’t think it really suits his game

Tbh I don’t know much more about it. I have heard NFL are trying to creep forward in the weekend which would tread on some college toes, but it certainly does present an interesting comparative model for rugby. In particular the amount of analytical info available to fans runs far in excess of what is available to rugby fans. So they do make a huge effort to make a complex game understandable….

Exactly right, the Sport Broadcasting Act protects hs/college slots from the nfl games to a high degree, and yes, almost all of the nfl players come via the college pathway.However, I followed Jay-Wai’s example and looked up some data on fan crossover and it exists to a fair degree, albeit with some notable demographic and geographic exceptions (as PMcD describes below). The figures I found (since this is well outside my gen knowledge levels) were from S&P Global (a pretty credible source), 2025 showing that 87% of football fans watch the NFL and 55% of football fans watch college football. With those levels of overlap there has to be a level of $ competition between them for tickets, media viewing subscriptions, merchandise etc…..

Well if you look at the basic design of the sport, high school games are played on Friday nights, college games on Saturdays and NFL on Sunday. And the NFL cannot broadcast on Friday and Saturday by law. So that to me looks like a deliberate non-compete clause.Plus the NFL does not have any development league of its own other than college-ball….

They were only really out of the game in the 3rd quarter from 49-61 mins when the damage was done The heads dropped a bit and the ABs looked like scoring every time they ran the ball …

I agree. The acid test for the ABs however is whether or not they can replicate their apparent success against SA who thus far are proven masters of this style of rugby. Note also that the scrum & line outs are still work ons . Our scrum held steady against Oz without being dominant but frailties were occasionally still exposed at line-out time.

I discovered yesterday Hugo Scalo of RugbyPhisio and his analysis of Galthié Plan for 2027. He seems ok. If you are not French I understand that you need subtitles as he speaks too fast…!!

“…some kids”Just because you can use a toaster it doesn't make you a gourmet chef …

Exactly, but that doesn't mean they were recruited while they were children to represent Aus or NZ in international sport. You seem to think I'm against people moving for financial gain… I'm not….

Yeah, but that's not what happened here. Valetini didn't drop onto the lower body of the tackled player… isn't that what a hip drop tackle is?

It'll be interesting and we're quite lucky to have that combination of players there. But will Borthwick give other deserving players a chance? That's a big Q for me.

“England are spoilt for players on the outside – as we are at our club – but why can’t they play for England? They are both bright stars who could turn into superstars.”Because….Borthwick…

No, they are both very well attended and pull from different supporter Groups, so they co-exist side by side with each other at similar levels.If you take Wisconsin & Michingan Uni, they both typically pull 65k fans per game and the games are attended by former alumni & current students. The Hotels are full (with home support) and people meet up with their old college friends and go to the games together. …

I feel JAS should have been tried as a 12, not 13. and now is the perfect opportunity. Size, speed, vision, offload and defence, plus he has a great pass and kicks. Nothing to lose. Loads to gain. …

“Via schools, some kids in Ireland get their first taste of tag rugby in late primary school”So you DO see schools as part of the solution then! Gotta stop kneecapping your own arguments old bean, just too funny! 🤣…

Stadium looked great yesterday. I’m a bit ignorant on the ground dynamics not being a Leinster fan, but is Aviva now just going to be used for the big home games?

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