Sharks stroll to Exiles win

Sale had too much power and class for London Irish as they beat the Exiles 31-14.

Guinness Premiership, Madejski Stadium, Sunday October 15th

Sale warmed up for their European campaign in fine style as they put London Irish to the sword at the Madejski Stadium with a 31-14 triumph.

The Guinness Premiership champions kick-off their Heineken Cup adventure with a clash against the Ospreys in Swansea on Friday night and will do so in fine fettle following a comprehensive win over the Exiles.

Sale ran in four tries on route to victory and a bonus point with Mark Cueto, Mark Taylor and Oriol Ripol (two) getting on the scoresheet.

By contrast, the hosts were below-par all over the pitch and never looked capable of upsetting their guests.

The Sharks flew out of the traps and were full value for the 10-0 lead they had opened up by the quarter-hour mark.

England stand-off Charlie Hodgson kicked the first points of the afternoon with a seventh minute penalty and international colleague Mark Cueto was soon adding to them as he crossed.

The winger raced on to Jason Robinson's well-judged kick to collect and touch down unopposed, allowing Hodgson a simple conversion.

The visitors then took full advantage of an Irish error to score their second try as Barry Everitt's poor pass was knocked on by Riki Flutely.

Having quickly recycled possession, the ball was worked into the hands of Taylor (pictured) who raced through a couple of non-existent tackles to cross the whitewash with Hodgson again adding the extras.

Irish did respond five minutes later with a try of their own as Sailosi Tagicakibau scythed through a congested midfield to score with Everitt converting, but Sale remained very much on top and restored their comfortable lead with a third try just before the interval.

Ripol started and finished a fine team move, cutting in off his wing to make the early yards and then reappearing outside Cueto to take his fellow wingman's pass and steam over.

Hodgson put the gloss on a comprehensive first half display with another successful conversion.

The Exiles did manage to tighten up after the break and there was no further score until the hour mark when Sale wrapped up their bonus point with Ripol's second of the game.

The fleet-footed Spanish international again demonstrated his running skills as he jinked his way under the posts to secure a 29-7 advantage that was extended by two soon after via the boot of Hodgson.

Irish did have the final say of the afternoon as they capitalised on the sin-binning of substitute Sebastien Chabal to notch through Steffon Armitage, but it, along with Everitt's conversion, proved no more than a consolation as Sale coasted to a well-deserved success.