Kepu Tuipulotu conjures up comeback as Bath’s heavyweight bench sees off Sale | EUROtoday

It was Sharks’ ninth defeat of a disappointing league marketing campaign.

“I’m crestfallen,” Sale’s director of rugby Alex Sanderson, who was compelled to play a hooker Nathan Jibulu at No 7 due to his again row damage points.

“I’m just gutted for the amount of effort that the lads put in. It is frustrating but it’s seemingly a similar story to how the rest of the season has gone.

“They’re a good team, with a strong bench and a minimal-risk game plan. You know where they are coming from but you’ve still got to be very, very, very good to stop them.”

Sale, of their present incarnation, are a good distance from that. Their season now hinges on a round-of-16 Champions Cup tie at Harlequins subsequent weekend. Bath have a house tie in opposition to Saracens and the A-listers shall be again for that one.

Match particulars

Scoring sequence: 0-5 Frost attempt, 0-7 Carreras con, 5-7 O’Flaherty attempt, 7-7 Ford con, 12-7 du Preez attempt, 14-7 Ford con, 19-7 Cowan-Dickie attempt, 19-12 Hennessey attempt, 19-14 Carreras con, 19-19 Staddon attempt, 24-19 Roebuck attempt, 26-19 Ford con, 26-24, Tuipulotu attempt, 26-26 Carreras con, 26-31 Barbeary attempt.

Sale Sharks: J Carpenter; T Roebuck, R du Preez (M Louw 48), R Ma’asi-White, T O’Flaherty; G Ford, R Quirke (G Warr 60); B Rodd (R McEachran 60), L Cowan-Dickie (E Caine 60), J Harper (T Raymont 60), E van Rhyn, B Bamber, S Dugdale (D du Preez 57), N Jibulu (J Gilmore 72), J Vermeulen.

Bath: T de Glanville; J Cokanasiga, L Hennessey, C Redpath, W Muir; S Carreras, T Carr-Smith (B van der Linde 60); S Kirk (B Obano 35), D Frost (Okay Tuipulotu 41), V Sela (T du Toit 35), W Jeanes (E Richards 53), R Molony (C Ewels 54-72), T Hill, E Staddon, M Reid (A Barbeary 60).

Referee: L Pearce.