Sale stopped free-scoring Bristol in their tracks as they moved into the Premiership playoff places with a stunning 38-0 victory at Ashton Gate. Bristol had high hopes of going top above their West Country rivals Bath, but Sale did not allow them any time or space on the ball and Bears’ trademark running game hit the buffers.
The scrum-half Raffi Quirke set the tone when he breached Bristol’s defence inside three minutes, and the Sharks never looked back. Tom Roebuck added a second try before half-time, then the captain Ben Curry’s interception score sealed the deal midway through the third quarter, before Roebuck’s fellow wing Tom O’Flaherty secured a bonus point 14 minutes from time.
The centre Rob du Preez kicked three penalties and three conversions, while their fly-half George Ford dropped a goal as Sale’s statement win served notice of their title credentials.
“We know the threats they [Bristol] possess,” Sale’s defence coach, Byron McGuigan, told TNT Sports. “They are super-creative, so the theme for us this week was how do we cage the bear? We came up with a plan and it paid off. It is a massive credit to the players.
“We had to be mentally focused, and we didn’t want to waste a minute this week. We had a clear plan to go after them. We knew we had to be at our best.”
Curry said: “These are the games you want to play in. The rugby wasn’t perfect, but we showed real togetherness. We feel like we have something to prove, not just to ourselves, but to other people. That was a step in the right direction tonight.”
Sale produced a lightning start, rocking Bristol when Quirke made a blistering break from 35m out to claim a superb solo touchdown that Du Preez converted. Bristol could not get going, and their cause was not helped midway through the first half when Harry Randall was shown a yellow card for pulling back the Sale hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie off the ball. Randall had barely left the pitch before Sharks extended their lead courtesy of impressive approach by their forwards that led to George Ford freeing Roebuck with a long pass, and he applied a simple finish.
Du Preez’s conversion made it 17-0, before Bristol suffered another injury setback when their top try-scorer Gabriel Ibitoye went off due to an apparent hamstring problem. Ford then underlined Sale’s dominance by landing a drop goal as the visitors took a 20-point lead with them into the interval.
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Bristol could find no way into the contest, and after Du Preez kicked a second penalty, Curry intercepted Fitz Harding’s speculative pass to cross from close range, and Du Preez’s conversion saw Sale hit 30 points. He completed his penalty hat-trick midway through the second period, and all Bristol could concentrate on was trying to break their points duck in a game that had seen them emphatically outplayed.
Sale had other ideas as they raced to a five-point maximum in thrilling fashion when O’Flaherty broke clear from just outside his own 22, then linked with Quirke before finishing in style. Bristol were left to reflect on failing to score a point in a Premiership game for the first time since 2016.
