Gloucester Rugby 43 - 17 Sale Sharks: Gloucester run rampant against deflated Sale Sharks

It was the hosts who opened the scoring through Ben Redshaw in the 8^th minute, the full back showed off his wheels as his outpaced two opposing payers to acrobatically dive in the corner. The space was created through some slick Gloucester hands which saw three offloads before Redshaw ran it in. Charlie Atkinson missed his first kick of the night.

Sale was reduced to 14 men in the 15^th minute when hooker, Nathan Jibulu was shown a yellow card for tipping Ollie Thorley above the horizontal in the tackle.

Gloucester quickly made use of the man advantage when just three minutes after Jibulu was sent to the bin, Seb Blake scored under the post following a superb line break and offload by Will Trenholm that split open the Sale defence. Atkinson got the conversion increasing Gloucester’s lead to 12.

It was all Gloucester in the first half as the hosts got a third try in the 37^th minute as Atkinson ran a third of the pitch to dive over the line after a line break from Caolan Englefield isolated Luke James. Atkinson got the extras once more.

Charlie Atkinson was sent to the sin bin in the 47^th minute after making head contact in the tackle.

Sale tapped into the deficit with a diving effort from Alex Wills in the 50^th minute, the winger evaded Lewis Ludlow’s tackle attempt with a beautiful finish in the corner. Rob Du Preez shanked the extras.

Gloucester response was immediate with a try bonus point wrapped up less than a minute later. Danny Eite blocked Gus Warr’s box kick and picked up the loose ball to score untouched. With Atkinson sent to the bin Englefield took over kicking duties but the scrum half missed his effort.

The Gloucester attack proved too powerful for Sale time and time again with a pair of quick tries on the hour mark. Trenholm got the first of the pair as the number eight bundled over his opposing man to score. The second of the pair was a gift, a mistake by the Sale defence left the ball on the pitch which Ollie Thorley scooped up and handed to Redshaw for the full backs second try of the match. Atkinson got the extras both times.

Sharks got their second of the match in the 68^th minute when Ethan Caine blistered towards the line to put the ball down despite strong defence from Gloucester. Du Preez got the extras this time.

Gloucester scored their seventh try in the 77^th minute with a chip and chase by Josh Hathaway. The winger proved too pacey and reached the ball first untouched.

Sale got one back in the final minute as Wills scored his second of the match.

ATTENDANCE: 9,027

Tries: 7 (Redshaw 8’ 63’, Blake 19’, Atkinson 37’, Eite 51’, Trenholm 60’, Hathaway 77’)

Conversions: 4 (Atkinson 20’ 38’ 60’ 63’)

Penalties: 0

Yellow cards: 1(Atkinson 47’)

Red cards: 0

15. Ben Redshaw 14. Josh Hathaway 13. Josiah Edwards-Giraud 12. Max Knight 11. Ollie Thorley 10. Charlie Atkinson 9. Caolan Englefield 1. Val Rapava Ruskin 2. Seb Blake 3. Afo Fasogbon 4. Danny Eite 5. Matias Alemanno 6. James Venter 7. Lewis Ludlow (captain) 8. Will Trenholm

16. Manaaki Boyle-Tiatia 17. Dian Bleuler 18. Ciaran Knight 19. Josh Basham 20. Jack Mann 21. Callum Braley 22. Ross Byrne 23. George Barton

Tries: 3 (Wills 50’ 80’, Caine 68’)

Conversions: 1 (Du Preez 68’)

Penalties: 0

Yellow cards: 1 (Jibulu 15’)

Red cards: 0

15. Luke James 14. Aaron reed 13. Joe Bedlow 12. Reketi Ma’asi-White 11. Alex Wills 10. Rob Du Preez 9. Dom Hanson 1. Simon Mcintyre 2. Nathan Jibulu 3. James Harper 4. Ben Bamber 5. Hyron Andrews 6. Ernst Van Rhyn (captain) 7. Sam Dugdale 8. Jacques Vermulen

16. Tadgh McElroy 17. Ralph McEachran 18. Tye Raymont 19. Reuben Logan 20. Ethan Caine 21. Gus Warr 22. Tom Curtis 23. Tom O’Flaherty

Ben Redshaw – Gloucester and England – The young fullback has been turning a lot of heads at his new side since signing for The Cherry and Whites in the summer. The 21 year old is seen as a bright prospect for the future with his fast feet and ability to find space in behind. He matches this with an insanely impressive defensive work rate with heavy hits and a seemingly infinite tank. He has shone for the England under 20’s and is a player to watch for the next decade or more.

Afo Fasogbon – Gloucester and England – Fasogbon may have fallen out of a favour a little with the England setup as of late, but his raw talent is so clear to see. The tighthead prop needs to just iron out some of his play around the park, but his set piece play is excellent, constantly getting the better of top calibre opposition and forcing scrum penalties. It may be a bit of a second season slump but with injuries at tight head and an ageing set of props in the England team, minus Asher Opoku-Fordjour, he will be a staple of the England squad for years to come.

Charlie Atkinson – Gloucester and England – The young fly half has recently overtaken Ross Byrne in the pecking order at Gloucester and his ability to play both fly half and full back makes him a great addition to any side as a second distributor. Atkinson has one cap to his name and with stiff competition between both Finn and Marcus Smith it will be a tall order to break into the matchday squad for England, but he is no second-rate player. He has had a stellar season, in a poor Gloucester side and if his form continues, he will certainly be knocking on Steve Borthwick’s door for a call up very soon.

Tadgh McElroy – Sale and Ireland – The Irish hooker has been on fine form for Sale since signing for the side in 2024. Although he sits behind Luke Cowan-Dickie in the pecking order he has been a fine backup for the Sharks over the past two seasons. With lots of Irish front row injuries as of late it may be the time for McElroy to finally get his international breakthrough. He has five Under 20’s caps to his name but is yet to make an international senior appearance for his country.

Aaron Reed – Sale and Scotland – Although Reed has three international caps, a few more may be coming his way shortly. With Duhan Van Der Merwe and Darcy Graham seemingly out of favour with Scotland boss Gregor Townsend it may be the breakthrough Reed needs. He made his Scotland debut against Canada in July 2024 and recently played for Scotland A’s this month against Italy XV. He’s an electric and twitchy winger who is also a stalwart of a defender and at only 26 has a lot of rugby ahead of him. He is closing in on 100 appearance in what has been a stellar career for Sale thus far and it looks more than likely an international breakthrough is looming.

With only four payers away on international duty and a shortening injury list this was almost a full-strength Gloucester side, and it showed. The Cherry and Whites were excellent in attack and looked a lot more like the side from last season that came so close to a playoff appearance. With seven tries tonight and a pure domination of their opponents the gears have started to turn for George Skivington’s team. The excellent display from the half back pairing of Englefield and Atkinson was the catalyst for much of Gloucester’s play this evening and their quick hands and precise kicks changed momentum right from the start.

The 24-year-old has put together a stellar string of performances over the past couple of months. He recently overtook Ross Byrne for the starting spot at fly-half and he has really made that jersey his own. He has great vision around the park and times a pass or a kick perfectly so often. He got himself on the scoresheet with a try in the first half and kicked through four of his seven conversion attempts in what was an extremely windy Kingsholm stadium. He will surely be knocking on the door of the England team if he keeps up this run of form. It’s a strong list of names ahead of him in the pecking order, but he has made an argument to get into that matchday squad.

The hosts sat third in their PREM Cup group before this game, two points off qualification behind rivals Bath. An excellent seven tries tonight gave them all the spoils and really put the pressure on their rivals too get a result away at Exeter on Saturday afternoon. Exeter sat atop the group before tonight’s fixture, but Gloucester have leapfrogged both sides into first place in group A. It’s been a dismal Premiership season for Gloucester, but the PREM cup might be what they need to bond and keep morale up.

The 21-year old’s first season in Cherry and White has been plagued with injuries but in the limited appearances he has had, he has been excellent. A brace today and almost a hattrick he has such an unbelievable knack of finding space and exploiting defensive shapes. He’s a joy to watch and Gloucester will be desperate to keep him on their books for years to come.

The loss today sealed the fate of the Sharks, they have only won two of their seven games so far and it is now mathematically impossible for them to progress. They were without many internationals, but the next men up didn’t live up to expectations. It was a plethora of penalties conceded, at one point they gave up five in five minutes. This ultimately cost them; they kept giving up ground to Gloucester and the home side exploited this. If it wasn’t penalties, it was silly errors and it was a game to forget for the Sharks.