Bonus win on the road but Mather isn’t satisfied

By JOSH THOMAS

Sale Sharks ………………….10pts

Tries: James 70, Swailes 80

Trailfinders………………….26pts

Tries: Zackery 2, 75; Inman 16, Swards 36

Conversions: Green 2, 36, 75

on the road isn't satisfied

IT'S back to the training pitch for Trailfinders director of rugby Giselle Mather who identified clear areas for improvement following her side's bonus point win on the road at Sale.

Two bookend tries from No.8 Kate Zackery were enough to see off a hard working Sale Sharks, playing at Salford Community Stadium for the first time.

Mather was pleased with the outcome but frustrated with the team's inability to convert the chances on offer. She said: “It's great to be playing here at the Saford Stadium and we played some good rugby, but again we couldn't finish.

“From my point of view, although we played well we did't play well enough in the final third of the field and that's what we have to work on during the break. We have to become more clinical in that area. Through making wrong decisions we left 15 to 20 points out there.”

The visitors got off to the best possible start as Zachary emerged from the base of the scrum 40 meters out and a powerful run down the left flank saw her unchallenged to cross in the corner on two minutes, Ellie Green adding the extras.

Trailfinders continued to press and claimed a second try when a weak Sharks drop-out from under their own posts was gathered and fed out quickly to full-back Rosie Inman wide on the right who cut inside for the second score.

With half-time approaching the visitors made use of an abundance of possession when a Sale lineout went awry on their own 22. Quick reactions from Emma Swards saw the scrumhalf pounce to claim the third try, converted by Green. Trailfinders centre Julia Schell then saw yellow and in the final minute of the half the hosts came close to opening their account, but a succession of close range penalties were repelled.

The hosts improved after the restart but were never able to fully threaten. With just 10 minutes remaining they finally made the breakthrough. A well executed driving maul from distance saw Nick James emerge to claim the score.

The visitors responded with Zackary's second try, collecting the ball from the tail of the lineout and crashing over.

Sale refused to lie down and a second driving maul with the last play of the game gave replacement Niamh Swailes the chance to reduce the deficit.