FORMER HAWKS STAND OFF TOMMY HAYES CONTINUES TO MAKE AN IMPACT IN THE ENGLISH PREMIERSHIP

Bristol got off to a dream start as Dan Ward-Smith gathered a stray Sale lineout and broke downfield. Sale were caught offside as Bristol worked the phases and Jason Strange opened the scoring with a penalty after only 2 minutes.
This was, however, immediately cancelled out when Gareth Llewellyn failed to gather the restart and with referee Maybank playing advantage Charlie Hodgson dropped a neat goal to level the scores.

Bristol then stunned the home team when Sililo Martens’ kick was gathered by Shaun Perry who spotted a gap and squirmed through a couple of tackles before going over on the left hand side. Strange’s conversion from wide out missed narrowly but Bristol had a 3-8 lead after 8 minutes.

Last week against Northampton saw penalties cost Bristol dear and Jason Robinson and Sebastien Chabal were prominent as Charlie Hodgson slotted penalties after 12 and 16 minutes to edge Sale back in front at 9-8.

Jason Strange responded in kind after 18 minutes to nudge Bristol back in front at 9-11 but Charlie Hodgson’s third penalty after 24 minutes restored Sale’s lead at 12-11 after 24 minutes.

Referee Maybank then infuriated the home crowd by penalising Chabal immediately after the restart but Strange’s kick from long distance struck the upright and stayed out.

It didn’t matter as Jason Robinson put a kick out on the full and, as Bristol worked the phases in the Sale half, earned a penalty on the Sale 22 which Strange kicked to give Bristol the lead again at 12-14 on the half hour.

The tale of the first half continued though as Bristol’s discipline let them down on 36 minutes as Dan Ward-Smith was penalised for holding on in the tackle and Charlie Hodgson kicked his fourth penalty to make the score 15-14 to Sale.

Bristol had a good attacking position from the restart but Ward-Smith was again penalised for holding on and Sale were able to put a kick into the corner as the game went into first half injury time but the Sharks wasted the position through a loose pass and Bristol cleared.

That was the final attacking play of the first half as Sale went into half time with a 15-14 lead. Bristol had competed well but the penalty count would have caused the Bristol coaching staff some alarm.

Sadly, it was the same old story as Bristol’s backs were seemingly caught offside as Sale threatened at the start of the second half and Hodgson made no mistake from bang in front and just inside the 22. 18-14 to Sale after 43 minutes.

Bristol were under some pressure but managed to earn a turnover and cleared their lines to win a penalty downfield when Sale were penalised for holding on. However, the thrown wasn’t straight and the chance was gone when Bristol gave away a penalty at the ensuing scrum, Charlie Hodgson moving play downfield.

The penalty count was still rising and Matt Salter was sinbinned on 52 minutes for pulling down an attacking Sale maul. The amount of decisions against Bristol had made this almost inevitable.

Sale went for the corner with the man advantage and Bristol held out at first although gave away another penalty. Bristol defended gallantly and were rewarded with the sight of Sebastien Bruno and Andrew Sheridan warming up!

The pressure built and Sale looked set to score but Bristol held out at the expense of yet another penalty which, thankfully, was overturned after some foul play from Sale.

Bristol were then dealt a real blow as Roy Winters was forced off the field through injury to be replaced by Mariano Sambucetti but were boosted as another Hodgson penalty attempt was wide of the mark.

The thin white line finally broke on 68 minutes as Chabal popped the ball up from a 5 metre scrum for Sililo Martens to cross on 68 minutes. Hodgson added the extras and Bristol’s goose looked cooked at 25-14.

And things went from bad to worse for Bristol as Jason Strange was sent to the sin bin for what appeared to be illegal use of the boot to reduce Bristol to 13 men temporarily.

Tommy Hayes replaced Brian Lima to give Bristol a specialist fly half and what an impact he made!

As the game went into its final 10 minutes, Hayes’ produced a top drawer chip and catch before sprinting over in the corner for a memorable try. The conversion was wide but Bristol were back within bonus point range at 25-19.

The next four minutes saw a penalty for Hodgson (76), one for Hayes (79) and then another for Hodgson (80) as Bristol swung agonisingly in and out of bonus point territory.

With the game in injury time though, Hayes linked with Lee Robinson who made good ground before putting David Lemi away in the left corner. Hayes converted to reduce the gap to 31-29.

However, the clock was against Bristol and Sale were able to close out the game.

So, just a bonus point for Bristol but a well deserved one. The game looked well and truly up midway through the second half but a magnificent comeback saw Bristol come away with some reward.

There is real spirit in this Bristol team and Sale will bear testimony to that although the home team probably merited the win for the pressure they exerted in the second half.

This article was posted on 11-Jan-2006, 16:12 by Hugh Barrow.