Rugby Union: Newport-gwent 11 - 38 Sale

Charlie Hodgson has spent most of his career obscured in the long shadow of Jonny Wilkinson but the Sale outside-half, in a rich vein of form, commanded the field again last night with a display of cunning and control that, if taken to the international arena next month, may leave Wilkinson in the darkness.

While the Dragons, roared on by a fiercely partisan crowd, snorted and snarled in the opening exchanges, their menace proved superficial. Sale had immeasurably more class, with Hodgson looking nothing like the tentative player who spluttered his way through England’s international matches last season.

Hodgson set Sale on their way on 11 minutes when he charged down Ceri Sweeney’s sloppy clearance kick, fly-kicking the ball on and winning the race for the touchdown.

As the Dragons struggled to take play through more than a couple of phases, Sale created space at will through their virtuosity behind the scrum. While the Dragons mustered two penalties through Craig Warlow in the first half, Sale were on their way to a try bonus point thanks to Hodgson, who followed his score by breaking the defense to enable Jason Robinson to float a long pass for Mark Cueto to cross unopposed. Hodgson was the architect of his side’s third try four minutes from half-time, even if his pass for the full-back Daniel Larrechea bounced three times before it reached its target, who strolled past a static defense.

It got worse for the Dragons when their second-row Peter Sidoli went into the sin-bin for killing the ball at a ruck but Hodgson missed the subsequent 40-yard penalty and the home side went into the interval 21-6 down, if not quite out.

It looked all over for the Dragons five minutes into the second half when the flanker Andrew Hall joined Sidoli in the sin-bin for dangerous play at a line-out. Sale went for the kill, kicking the penalty to touch and trying to drive their way over the line, but the defense held firm, with ball carriers dumped on the ground to stop them generating momentum. When Sale eventually moved the ball wide, Elvis Sevealai’l knocked on in the centre, though a scrum 10 yards from their own line with two forwards absent appeared to offer the Dragons little in the way of succour. But they heeled the ball quickly, the wing Gareth Wyatt kicked the ball from one 22 to the other and, when Robinson was undone by the bounce, Wyatt reduced the arrears to 10 points.

But Hodgson had the final say. After kicking a penalty his 35-yard break from a standing start led to a try by the flanker Magnus Lund and a bonus point. Sevealai’l crossed in the final minute with Hodgson adding the conversion to give him a match haul of 18 points.

Newport-Gwent Dragons: Morgan; Wyatt, Tuipulotu, Sweeney (Bryant, 78), Breeze (Fussell, 53); Warlow, Cooper (Baber, 79); Maddocks (Black, 53), Jones, Thomas (Maddocks, 80), Sidoli, Charteris (Bryan, 72), Hall, Forster (capt; Ringer, 65), Owen.
Try: Wyatt
Pens: Warlow 2.
Sin bin: Sidoli, 40; Hall, 45.

Sale: Larrechea (Ripol, 45); Cueto, Taylor (Todd, 76), Sevealai'l, Robinson (capt); Hodgson, Martens; Sheridan, Bruno (Titterrell, 52), Turner (Coutts, 72), Jones, Schofield (Lobbe, 56), White, Lund, Chabal.
Tries: Hodgson, Cueto, Larrechea, Lund, Sevealai'l.
Cons:
Hodgson 5. Pen: Hodgson.
Referee: C Berdos (France).

Att: 7,327.