Sale 36-7 London Irish: Denny Solomona double inspires Sharks
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 15/09/17 10:42pm
Denny Solomona touched down twice as Sale secured their first victory of the Aviva Premiership season following a comfortable 36-7 bonus-point triumph over 14-man London Irish.
The Sharks dominated the opening period and moved into a 24-0 lead at the break thanks to Ross Harrison's score and Solomona's double.
Josh Charnley then touched down to seal the five points before the Exiles were awarded a penalty try.
That proved to just a consolation, however, as Blair Cowan was sent off for a second yellow card and Mark Jennings completed the win.
Despite Irish being a shadow of the side that defeated Harlequins in round one, this performance provided the perfect tonic for the Manchester club.
Steve Diamond's men were stung by their late reversal at the hands of Newcastle last weekend and they began with the intention of rectifying those issues.
Sale, with Faf De Klerk and AJ MacGinty controlling proceedings impressively from half-back, found numerous holes in the visiting rearguard and deservedly went 17-0 up inside the first quarter.
MacGinty opened their account from the tee before another infringement allowed them to build an attack in the opposition 22.
Unlike the previous Friday night their lineout was far more assured and Harrison went over from a driving maul for his first ever professional try in 109 appearances.
Solomona and De Klerk then combined for the former to cross the whitewash and add to his reputation as one of the best tryscorers around.
After MacGinty had converted for the second time, Nick Kennedy's team finally created their first opportunity but, even with the ball, Irish were managing to gift the Sharks scores.
An errant pass was duly pounced upon by Solomona and once more there was no stopping the England international as he scampered clear to take Sale into a 24-0 lead at the interval.
Kennedy needed a response from his charges and he almost got it, only for Ofisa Treviranus to knock-on just short of the line.
They continued to press but the hosts managed to hold firm and were soon on the attack again. With their first foray in the second period, Sale drove towards the whitewash and almost touched down.
Although they were held up, referee Wayne Barnes deemed that it was done so illegally and duly sent Cowan to the sin-bin.
Down to 14 men, Irish eventually succumbed when Jennings drove through a couple of tackles and offloaded for Charnley to score.
Last season's Championship winners hit back via a penalty try, a score which saw former Irish prop Halani Aulika yellow-carded, but after Cowan had been sent off just three minutes after returning, Jennings completed the rout.
