Gloucester-Hart …. 29pts
Tries: Beckett 25, Buggy 36, Else 56, Matthews 63, K Jones 79
Conversions: George 57, 65
Penalties: Rigoni 5
TEAMS
GLOUCESTER-HARTPURY: Goulden 7, Richards 7, Hendy 7, Hyett 7, Metcalfe 7, George 8 (Mai-Manns 67, 7), Mattinson 7 (Hunt 59, 8), Buggy 8 (Delgado 61, 7), N Jones 7 (K Jones 51, 8), Hale 7 (Muir 51, 7), Williams 7, Crabb 7, Else 8 (Mccarthy 61, 7), Brock 7, Beckett 8 (Matthews 55, 8)
SALE SHARKS: Perrin 6, Prothero 6, Ramsbottom 6, Howard 5, Woosey 6 (Bawden 59, 6), Rigoni 6, Taylor-Roberts 5 (Bell 72); Young 5 (Benson 47, 5), Wright 6 (Kelly 23, 6), Harper 6 (James 47, 6), Jarrell 6 (Moore 62), Antwis 5, Irwin 6 (Bowman 53, 6), Perris-Redding 7 (Searcy 56, 6), Hazell 6
REFEREE: Jonathan Cook
Star player
Neve Jones -Gloucester-H
GLOUCESTER-Hartpury went top of the table with a bonus-point win against Sale Sharks to maintain their 100 per cent win record from 10 games, while Sale Sharks remain bottom with nine defeats.
Kathryn Buggy, Steph Else, Alex Matthews and Kelsey Jones all crossed as the hosts made the most of their game in hand on second-placed Saracens.
The sides clash again next Sunday and Gloucester-Hartpury head coach Sean Lynn said: “I'm happy to be top of the table. The first-half performance today wasn't what we wanted, so at half-time we put a few fixes in place and we looked to have a lot more energy in the second half.”
Sale initially led with a penalty kick from Beatrice Rigoni as Gloucestery struggled for possession. Despite Sale's dominance, their attacks were repelled by the home defence, who turned over possession multiple times in their own 22.
Molly Wright was the epitome of Sale's early pressure, putting a tackle-of-the-season contender in as she drove hospital-pass receiver Neve Jones back.
Gloucester grew into the game, putting more attacking pressure on Sale deep in their half as points became inevitable. Astrong scrum drove Sale back before the ball came loose and was scored by captain Sarah Beckett to give them the lead.
Gloucester went up another gear in attack but Sale did well to keep them out with some quality last-gasp defending.
It wasn't long before the home side crossed the try line again, this time with Buggy powering over from short-range.
A strong opening to the second half from the home side saw them continue their attacking momentum. Resolute Sharks defence held them up on the line twice in the opening 10 minutes despite losing Vicky Irwin to the sin-bin on 43 minutes for a high tackle.
Lynn's side kept the pressure on for almost 20 minutes and it was Kelsey Jones who broke the line and gifted an offload to Else to cross the whitewash.
Gloucester-Hartpury became clinical in attack, playing through phases, waiting patiently for a space in the defence. Matthews found the gap to score, with Lleucu George finding her form from the tee to take the extra two points.
Sale lost Molly Kelly to the sin-bin and Gloucester grabbed a fifth try from Jones at the back of an unstoppable maul.
