Reed hits right lines as Bristol are denied

■By GARY FITZGERALD

Sale Sharks ………………….21pts

Tries: Wills 9, Reed 18, 63 Conversions: Davies 10, 19, 63

Bristol Bears ………………..19pts

Tries: Auvaa 34, Pepper 45, 66 Conversions: Worsley 46, 67

ARRON Reed’s brace of tries ensured Sale picked up a vital Premiership Cup win as they defied a fierce Bristol fightback.

The full-back demonstrated his impressive pace and finishing power to ensure the hosts made it two wins in Pool A and boost their bid to progress in the competition.

But Sale were made to work hard for the victory at the CorpAcq Stadium after seeing a 14-0 lead slip away and have to hold out at the end under strong Bristol pressure.

and No.8 Auvaa started well by crossing for one of Bristol’s tries in this loss. He also tackled hard and carried impressively at times.

Bears fly-half Sam Worsley also missed the chance of being his side’s saviour when his tough long-range penalty fell short of the target a few minutes from time.

Sharks were vastly more experienced than their rivals who had 13 academy players in their squad with nine of them starting. They also gave a debut to young Samoan forward Totoa Auvaa who they picked up from Saracens after he was sacked over his part in a second off-the-field incident. It followed his well-documented bar bust-up alongside England cricketers Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson.

Blast: Sol Moody on the charge for Bristol

Pat Lam was keen to give him a second chance Sharks led 14-5 at the break with two tries inside the opening 20 minutes. The first came from an attacking line-out 15 metres out. Their forwards secured the ball and went through the phases before feeding the ball out wide left to wing Alex Wills to cruise across for the first try.

Fly-half Ollie Davies added the extras from the touchline and the visitors’ poor start worsened with Bristol reduced to 14 men temporarily with full-back Tobi Wilson shown a yellow card for foul play at a ruck in front of his own line.

Sale took no time in making their superior numbers tell as fly-half Ollie Davies’ wide pass to Reed saw the Scotland international race through a gap and over for the second try. Davies again converted and Sharks had the perfect opening 20 minutes.

Livewire: Arron Reed dives over for his second try

PICTURES:Getty Imagesand Alamy

Auvaa got Bears rolling with a try. Having just made a big tackle he followed it up by finishing off a driving maul.

Bears were right back in it within five minutes of the restart with Aidan Boshoff charging up to near the Sharks line and the scrum-half was on hand to complete the job, sniping over from close range and Worsley converted.

Worsley’s drop out went dead and it gave Sale a scrum in front of the Bears line. The ball was moved left and quick hands put Reed through to complete his brace of tries. Davies added the extras.

Bears responded instantly from the restart as Sharks knocked on and the visiting forwards powered ahead before Max Pepper darted blind and raced over for a fine second try. Worsley converted to set up a tense final 13 minutes. But he missed the chance to be the Bears hero four minutes from the end when his long range penalty dropped short.

CLOSE-UP

ARRON REED Sale full-back V TOBI WILSON Bristol full-back

The vastly more experienced Reed was excellent in both defence and attack, heavily involved in most good moves Sharks put together while strong and secure when required at the back. The Scotland star grabbed two fine tries and an impressive all-round display. Youngster Wilson shrugged off his early sin-bin for foul play at a ruck to almost help Bears complete a fine fightback.