HODGSON STARS AS SHARKS GO SECOND
Sale Sharks ascended to second in the Guinness Premiership and all but ended London Wasps’ hopes of retaining their title with a bonus-point victory in Stockport. In the only game on Boxing Day, at a full-house Edgeley Park, home fly-half Charlie Hodgson and full-back Mark Cueto, the forgotten men of English rugby, gave Martin Johnson a timely reminder of what they can do as their side cruised to a 31-3 win.
Against a weakened Wasps side, who were forced to drop nine of their international players due to the Elite Performance Squad rulings, Hodgson scored 16 points, while Cueto ran in his team’s second try and looked a threat all afternoon.
After a poor start to their league campaign Wasps had begun to build up a head of steam, having won their previous four games in all competitions. But Ian McGeechan’s side were out-muscled and out-spirited by a Sale Sharks team determined to give their departing coach Philippe Saint-André a Christmas bonus.
Sale skipper Juan Fernandez Lobbe opened the scoring after 10 minutes when Hodgson found Nial Briggs on the right. The flank forward, standing in for Luke Abrahams after the club suspended him for a headbutt in last weekend’s defeat to Bath, shipped on to Argentine Lobbe, who gleefully dived over in the corner. Hodgson, 28, kicked the extra two points and was asked to do the same only three minutes later.
Cueto, in an attempt to clear his lines, booted from just outside his 22-yard-line, and the ball bounced inside the touch line and back in to play, wrong-footing Wasps winger Chris Bishay. His on-rushing opposite man, Daniel Doherty, collected and slipped to the supporting Cueto, who raced under the uprights.
Though Wasps’ fly-half, Dave Walder, pulled back a penalty after 19 minutes, there was only one No10 shining on Friday – and Hodgson, capped 31 times for England, put the score beyond the visitors after converting his own try on 24 minutes.
When visiting flanker Joe Worsley trotted back from an offside position and found himself in the way of No9 Richard Wigglesworth’s pass, Hodgson was the quickest to react and pounced on the loose ball to take Sale to 21-3 at the interval.
Hodgson ensured his perfect kicking game with a penalty in the 50th minute, and, with three minutes remaining, he converted Lobbe’s second try of the game, a bullocking run from close range that forced a defeated and weary Wasps defence to cave in.
Sale Sharks ascended to second in the Guinness Premiership and all but ended London Wasps’ hopes of retaining their title with a bonus-point victory in Stockport. In the only game on Boxing Day, at a full-house Edgeley Park, home fly-half Charlie Hodgson and full-back Mark Cueto, the forgotten men of English rugby, gave Martin Johnson a timely reminder of what they can do as their side cruised to a 31-3 win.
Against a weakened Wasps side, who were forced to drop nine of their international players due to the Elite Performance Squad rulings, Hodgson scored 16 points, while Cueto ran in his team’s second try and looked a threat all afternoon.
After a poor start to their league campaign Wasps had begun to build up a head of steam, having won their previous four games in all competitions. But Ian McGeechan’s side were out-muscled and out-spirited by a Sale Sharks team determined to give their departing coach Philippe Saint-André a Christmas bonus.
Sale skipper Juan Fernandez Lobbe opened the scoring after 10 minutes when Hodgson found Nial Briggs on the right. The flank forward, standing in for Luke Abrahams after the club suspended him for a headbutt in last weekend’s defeat to Bath, shipped on to Argentine Lobbe, who gleefully dived over in the corner. Hodgson, 28, kicked the extra two points and was asked to do the same only three minutes later.
Cueto, in an attempt to clear his lines, booted from just outside his 22-yard-line, and the ball bounced inside the touch line and back in to play, wrong-footing Wasps winger Chris Bishay. His on-rushing opposite man, Daniel Doherty, collected and slipped to the supporting Cueto, who raced under the uprights.
Though Wasps’ fly-half, Dave Walder, pulled back a penalty after 19 minutes, there was only one No10 shining on Friday – and Hodgson, capped 31 times for England, put the score beyond the visitors after converting his own try on 24 minutes.
When visiting flanker Joe Worsley trotted back from an offside position and found himself in the way of No9 Richard Wigglesworth’s pass, Hodgson was the quickest to react and pounced on the loose ball to take Sale to 21-3 at the interval.
Hodgson ensured his perfect kicking game with a penalty in the 50th minute, and, with three minutes remaining, he converted Lobbe’s second try of the game, a bullocking run from close range that forced a defeated and weary Wasps defence to cave in.
Labels: Charlie Hodgson, Guinness Premiership, London Wasps, Sale Sharks
