History for Wade and Newcastle
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History for Wade and Newcastle
Gallagher PREM history was made at Kingston Park on Friday night when Newcastle Red Bulls wing Christian Wade tied the league’s all-time try-scoring record in a Derby Weekend victory over Sale Sharks.
A barnstorming second half brought to life an attritional Battle for the North, with the Red Bulls seizing the momentum in spectacular fashion in the closing 40.
A try-less first half saw Sale 3-0 up at the interval, with the onset of wintry weather having no small say on proceedings.
The home side started strongly and earned four red-zone penalties through forward pressure, but the Sale defence held firm as Hoskins Sotutu was forced off with an early injury.
The wind and driving rain meant fluent handling play was a near impossibility as both sides turned to the boot, and it was the Sharks who broke the deadlock on 19 minutes when George Ford slotted a simple penalty from in front of the posts.
A Max Hicks break through the middle of a ruck almost brought a Newcastle try just after the quarter mark as Sale were forced into some heroic scramble defence.
The Sharks had their claims for a try just after the half-hour denied by the TMO as they were held up over the line, and some stoic Red Bulls defence was required to keep Sale’s half-time lead to 3-0 as they withstood a barrage of five-metre scrums.
If supporters thought the half-time jet-pack show was explosive, they had similar spark nine minutes into the second half when Wade earned his piece of rugby history, collecting a pass down the right wing to equal the PREM’s all-time try-scoring record.
Josh Hodge rode the wave of joy to slot the conversion into the teeth of a South-Westerly gale, and even when Sale kicked a penalty to the left corner the home side simply rose highest and stole the set-piece.
Hodge extended his side’s lead to seven with a penalty from in front of the posts, and the points kept coming when Will Rigg’s grubber kick forced a penalty which was kicked to the left corner.
From the resulting maul George McGuigan powered his way over for the game’s second try, and Hodge made the conversion look easy despite the fierce cross-wind.
Sale kept pressing and went close five from the end when Ford's cross-field just eluded the onrushing Tom Roebuck, and the Red Bulls had enough to hold on for the win in Wade's history-making night.
Newcastle Red Bulls: 15 Josh Hodge, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Will Rigg, 11 Werner Kok, 10 Brett Connon (Zack Henry, 72), 9 Simón Benítez Cruz (James Elliott, 68); 1 Pouri Rakete-Stones (Tom West, 44), 2 George McGuigan (Zuriel Togiatama, 72), 3 Elliot Millar Mills (Francisco Moreno, 45), 4 Oscar Usher, 5 Rusi Tuima (Finn Baker, 54), 6 Max Hicks (Ollie Leatherbarrow, 67), 7 Tom Christie (captain), 8 Hoskins Sotutu (Sam Graham, 9).
Scorers - Tries: Christian Wade, George McGuigan. Conversions: Josh Hodge 2. Penalties: Josh Hodge.
Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White (Alex Lozowski, 73), 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 George Ford, 9 Dom Hanson; 1 Nicky Smith, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Nathan Jibulu, 56), 3 Tomas Francis (Asher opoku-Fordjour, 50), 4 Ernst van Rhyn (captain), 5 Ben Bamber, 6 Christ Tshiunza, 7 Ben Curry (Sam Dugdale, 60), 8 Tom Curry.
Scorers - Penalties: George Ford.
Referee: Matthew Carley. Attendance: 9,442.
