Gloucester rugby folk do not hold the Georgian city of Bath in particularly high

Gloucester rugby folk do not hold the Georgian city of Bath in particularly high regard – “a warm welcome to our friends from the arsehole of the universe” screamed the front page of the Kingsholm fanzine a few seasons back – and it is all they can do to pass through the god-forsaken place for 80 minutes once a season. In light of this, it is surprising that the Cherry and Whites booked in for an overnight stay before this derby at the Recreation Ground. If they had stuck to their usual routine and travelled the 40-odd miles on the morning of the game, they would have saved themselves some money as well as 24 hours of torment in the nether regions.
“What is it about this place?” asked a befuddled Nigel Melville, the visiting director of rugby, after watching his side’s umpteenth failure to win a Premiership match on the banks of the Avon.”We certainly don’t handle it well down here,” agreed his coaching partner, Dean Ryan “There was so much of this game that didn’t need to happen. “What is it about this place?” asked a befuddled Nigel Melville, the visiting director of rugby, after watching his side’s umpteenth failure to win a Premiership match on the banks of the Avon. “Last week we were on a high after our win at Saracens, but today it’s a low. We know that Sale have got a lot of good players in their team, but our use of the ball wasn’t as good as we were without the ball in hand.” Davies’s honest verdict was echoed by the Sale captain, Jason Robinson.”When I heard the final whistle, I felt disappointed,” said Robinson, who had few opportunities to display the full gamut of his attacking skills. “That was partly because of Leeds, but we didn’t keep hold of the ball and made too many mistakes, but we got the points and that is important.

We got the league points in what was an extremely tight match, so we’re happy about that, but we know we can play a lot better than that.”To be fair to Leeds, they denied Sale the space they thrive on and little was seen of their twin strike-force, Mark Cueto and Steve Hanley. And when Chris Bell scored the Leeds try – his first for the club since moving from Harlequins and only the sixth of their campaign – to bring the scores level, there was just the hint of an upset, enough to keep the Tykes’ faithful on the edge of their seats.Leeds escaped late-on when Diego Albanese failed to clear Charlie Hodgson’s speculative kick into no-man’s land and Tim Stimpson was gang-tackled under the crossbar.Sale were never headed after a storming start, with the whole of their pack driving Leeds backwards for 22 metres for Andy Titterrell to claim the try. Nothing came of Sale’s late power surge in terms of a score that would have put the game beyond the reach of Phil Davies’s team, though afterwards Davies was not as downbeat as he could have been.”At times we were over-cautious,” said Davies. Sale: Try Titterrell; Penalties Hodgson 2; Drop goal Hodgson.Leeds: D Albanese; D Rees, C Bell, A Snyman, T Biggs (T Stimpson, h-t); G Ross, A Dickens; M Shelley, M Regan (R Rawlinson, 11), G Kerr (M Holt, 69), S Hooper, C Murphy (capt), J Dunbar (P Uys, 60), R Parks, C Rigney.Sale: J Robinson (capt); M Cueto, C Rhys Jones, R Todd, S Hanley; C Hodgson, S Martens (B Redpath, h-t); A Sheridan, A Titterrell, B Stewart (S Turner, 42), C Day (D Schofield, 74), J White (S Bruno, 71), C Jones, M Lund, S Chabal.Referee: S Lander (Warrington).. Two penalties each by Gordon Ross and Hodgson brought up half-time at 11-6.

But ultimately, Bell’s try was insufficient, and Hodgson settled matters with a smart dropped goal.Leeds: Try Bell; Penalties Ross 2. Sale maintained the only unbeaten Premiership record, with a patchy performance at Headingley yesterday, to move back to the top of the table. But it was close, very close and Leeds, who have suffered six consecutive home losses, would almost certainly have settled for a draw, rather than the bonus point they received for losing by fewer than seven.
At the end, Leeds were clinging on as Sale threw the kitchen sink at them in a desperate bid to get some clear water between the two sides, neither of whom produced rugby of any real fluency. “It is one game and there are 17 more to go,” said Sanderson “But it was a massive game for us Today we were on form.” On fire would be nearer the mark. And there is every chance, on this showing, that other Premiership sides could get burned like Quins.Worcester: Tries Sanderson, Hinshelwood, Vaili, Fortey, Brown; Conversions Brown 4. Evans ought to have a chat with Andy Keast, the Worcester director of rugby, to find out how he managed such a turnaround.All the shellshocked Evans could say afterwards was that he intends tackling the crisis with “heart and soul” He added: “Our ball retention was really poor We only put in at two scrums.