Sale Sharks 41-27 Bristol Bears: Sharks player ratings as George Ford drops a masterclass

The game started off cagey, with the hosts being the side who grew into it more as the first period went on. A couple of well-worked tries just over five minutes either side of the half-hour mark were finished off well by Dan du Preez and Tadgh McElroy, following some probing play that stretched the Bears defence.

George Ford was impeccible all night off the tee, adding the extras for both scores and scoring a couple of penalties of his own, bringing the half-time score to a solid 20-5 in favour of Sale.

A nervous start to the second saw Bristol reduce the deficit and threaten a comeback, but the hosts turned on the heat and scored three tries in a row to give themselves a commanding lead going into the last five minutes.

Bears finally woke up and got a couple of consolation tries late on, which earned themselves a four-try bonus-point and made the score look a bit more respectable, but Sale’s win is a real statement in their race towards the top four.

TRIES: 5 (Dan du Preez 23’ Tadgh McElroy 36’ Jonny Hill 54’ Rekeiti Ma’asi White 64’ Raffi Quirke 72’)

CONVERSIONS: 5 (George Ford 24’ 37’ 55’ 65’ 73’)

PENALTIES: 2 (George Ford 9’ 30’)

DROP GOALS: 0

YELLOW CARDS: 0

RED CARDS: 0

15. Joe Carpenter 14. Tom Roebuck 13. Rob du Preez 12. Rekeiti Ma’asi White 11. Tom O’Flaherty 10. George Ford 9. Gus Warr 1. Bevan Rodd 2. Tadgh McElroy 3. Asher Opoku-Fordjour 4. Ernst van Rhyn 5. Jonny Hill 6. Jean-Luc du Preez 7. Ben Curry (c) 8. Dan du Preez

16. Alfie Longstaff 17. Si McIntyre 18. WillGriff John 19. Ben Bamber 20. Sam Dugdale 21. Raffi Quirke 22. Alex Wills 23. Sam Bedlow

Bristol Bears - 27

TRIES: 5 (Harry Randall 27’ Bill Mata 49’ Ratu Naulago 58’ Harry Byrne 77’ Kalaveti Ravouvou 80’)

CONVERSIONS: 1 (AJ MacGinty 59’)

PENALTIES: 0

DROP GOALS: 0

YELLOW CARDS: 0

RED CARDS: 0

15. Paddy Lane 14. Kalaveti Ravouvou 13. Benhard Janse van Rensburg 12. James Williams 11. Gabriel Ibitoye 10. AJ MacGinty 9. Harry Randall 1. Jake Woolmore 2. Gabriel Oghre 3. George Kloska 4. Josh Caulfield 5. Joe Batley 6. Santiago Grondona 7. Fitz Harding (c) 8. Bill Mata

16. Will Capon 17. Ellis Genge 18. Max Lahiff 19. James Dun 20. Joe Owen 21. Kieran Marmion 22. Harry Byrne 23. Ratu Naulago

Played with the intent and intensity that is so often seen by the England hopeful and this performance won’t have negatively affected his Test chances one bit.

Plenty of great running from deep, that didn’t always result in tangible impcts, but so often disrupted Bristol. During Sale’s ascendancy, completed a class 50/22 and got the crowd going, which really boosted the atmosphere and got the crowd onside to push for an even more convincing win.

Worked hard under the high ball and forced a few errors out of Gabriel Ibitoye. Made a few nice runs down the line but didn’t touch the ball quite as much as he might have liked.

Not a huge amount of attacking impact but formed a nice partnership with Ma’asi White and was the more defensively solid of the two, complimenting the attacking attributes that his partner in the centres has. Defended against Benhard Janse van Rensburg and AJ MacGinty extremely well especially.

Kept things solid alongside RDP and glued the attack together, whilst also keeping his line solid defensively. Put some big hits in and came off just after the 70-minute mark following the receival of a mammoth hit. Scored a well-worked try that he finished nicely too.

Loses out on half a point for his missed tackle right at the end, which although it didn’t change anything, was somewhat unforgivable defending.

Aside from that, brought real pace and agility to the team when he had the ball and provided a constant threat when paired with George Ford’s kicks in behind.

An absolute Rolls-Royce of a fly-half. Converted every kick from the tee which really separated the sides for much of the game. Dictated the play, controlled the tempo, picked the right pass almost every time. Supremely underrated and a player who deserves more respect, he was a deserved Player of the Match.

A few of Warr’s box kicks were blocked, which is never ideal for a scrum-half, aside from that he was solid in terms of passing, overall decent box kicking-wise. Not a hugely memorable 60-minute shift from the Scot, but he did provide a good bit of stability to the attack. An under the radar performance that was decent.

Scrummed well without winning any penalties. Was beaten far too easily for the first try and the jury is out regarding the second, he was partially out muscled but with momentum a factor, seems harsh to criticise. Not too much action with the ball either, an unremarkable game from the prop.

Came off to a well-earned standing ovation just minutes from the end of the game, following an industrious performance which saw him have a fair bit of impact with the ball in hand. Not the finest game from a set-piece perspective, with a couple of overhit hit lineouts, but aside from that it didn’t look like there was a British and Irish Lion missing from hooker, which is testament to McElroy.

Slightly better than Rodd in the sense that he got a fair few touches on the ball and was fleet-footed, running around the defence on numerous occasions. Showed a playmaking side to his game on one of the attacks, spearheading a free-flowing move that Pat Lam’s side would have been proud of, with some great passing and moving that he was the centre of.

Worked hard and was great in the second row with Jonny Hill, where they helped to outmuscle the Bears pack. Made some good yards with the ball which included a clean linebreak in the build up to one of the tries.

Played very well in his final home appearance at the Salford Community Stadium and will be a big miss for Alex Sanderson’s side next season. Brought some physicality and was a large part of Bristol often finding themselves bullied by endless phases of Sale attacks.

Marked his final home game with a powerful try, following a quick-tap penalty that he took himself and burst over the line.

A fitting performance in his final home game for Sale, where he played very well. Brought energy and power with and without the ball and came off to a deserved standing ovation that calls time on his career in Manchester. Won the penalty for Ford’s second kick and hurdled over Ernst van Rhyn in the buildup to a try.

Curry was an outstanding captain and led from the front, clearly his teammates have a lot of respect for him as they seemed to take on his every word. Won a turnover in the first half very impressively, got an assist for the first try and was on the front foot all evening. Teed up Joe Carpenter for his 50/22 well.

Very, very good from DDP in his stint. Hugely powerful with some bulldozing runs, mixed with some great tackles. Opened the try-scoring with a finish that even the most experienced of wingers would be proud of.

Did exactly what a back row needs to, bring hard-work and application and it really gave Sale a great platform to work from.

A word for Raffi Quirke, who got himself a try and assist off the bench following a disappointing second half against Leicester Tigers last week.

Aside from Quirke, the forwards were solid and adapted reasonably well to a few injuries right at the end, even if it coincided with a couple of late Bristol tries.