Bristol

Following a poor performance away at Newcastle, the Sharks finally got back to their winning ways at Edgeley Park on Sunday. In rainy conditions the squad put in a dominant performance and were unlucky to score just the one try, an excellently worked piece ending in a little flick pass from Hidgson to Foden.

Overall a satisfying 20-6 win.

Newcastle away

The Premiership is upon us and lucky ticket holders get to see Englands two best fit fly halfs face each other this Sunday in Newcastle.

Lining up for Sale:
15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Mayor, 13 Rudi Keil, 12 Lee Thomas, 11 Steve Hanley; 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Sililo Martens; 1 Lionel Faure, 2 Neil Briggs, 3 Ben Evans, 4 Dean Schofield (capt), 5 Sean Cox, 6 Magnus Lund, 7 Michael Hills, 8 Nathan Bonner-Evans
Bench: Mark Jones, Stuart Turner, Chris Day, Chris Jones, Richard Wigglesworth, Chris Bell, Oriol Ripol.


and for Newcastle:
15 Matthew Burke, 14 Tom May, 13 Mark Mayerhofler, 12 Joe Shaw, 11 John Rudd, 10 Toby Flood, 9 James Grindal, 1 Joe McDonnell, 2 Matt Thompson, 3 Micky Ward, 4 Andy Buist, 5 Mark Sorenson, 6 Geoff Parling, 7 Ben Woods, 8 Phil Dowson (capt)
Bench: Andy Long, David Wilson, Andy Perry, Brent Wilson, Lee Dickson, Steve Jones, Ollie Phillips.

Jets v Rotherham - 31 all draw

Last night saw a highly entertaining game of rugby played out at a respectably full Heywood Road.
Seven tries were scored in all, and the lead changed several times. The game ended dramatically when Sale scored a last gasp try, between the posts, and Rhys Jones capped off an excellent night by converting to bring the scores level.

Heywood Road

The Jets take on Rotherham this evening at Heywood Road, and coach Pete Anglesea has promised his side will be fully competitive. Expect to see a few big names on the pitch. Kick off is at 7pm, come along and support your local rugby club.

Update - team anncounced:

(From) Rob O'Donnell, Dan Birchall, Richard Kwasnicki, Benoit Bourrust, Stuart Eborall, James Gaskell, Tom Holmes, Garth Dew, Alex Waddingham, Alex Shaw, Chris Leck, Will Cliff, Rhys Jones, Chris Parrott, Andy Vilk, Timo Iosua, Jonny Kennedy, Mark Atkinson.

World cup sharks

Tonight's opener, France versus Argentina, will feature just one lone shark, Sebastien Chabal, sitting on the bench. There will be two further Sharks playing for Argentina; Lock Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe lines up with his brother Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe.

The rest of the weekend will feature many more:
England v USA will see Cueto, Sheridan and Robinsion play for England, and former Shark Mike "Billy Smart" Hercus as the USA captain
South Africa v Samoa will see Elvis Seviali'i on the bench
NZ v Italy will see Luke McAlister
Scotland Portugal will see Jason White
alas there are no Sharks in Ireland, Namibia, Japan, Wales or Canada.

Heywood Road this weekend

Quite apart from showing all the World Cup action on the big screen (why not come on down and help your local rugby club through the medium of drink?), Heywood road sees quality rugby action this weekend with the second xv playing Sefton. Kick off is at 3pm. The first team are away to Hoylake and the thirds away to Aldwinians.

Also - don't forget Sharks fans can see the Jets in action for the first time this year when they play Rotherham at Heywood Road on Monday night. Kick off is 7pm.

Challenge Cup dates announced

The dates, times and venues for the European Challenge Cup have been announced. Well, some of them at least. And only a few months late.

The first four rounds are:
Thursday 8th November 19-45 Montpellier Home
Saturday 17th November 15-00 Pardova Away
Saturday 8th December 19-00 Bayonne Away
Thursday 13th December 19-45 Bayonne Home


So we have the novelty of two Thursday night matches. Lets make the most of them eh?

Initial travel details are posted over on the official salesupporters.co.uk website.

Important Anncouncement

Following tonight's SSSC Committee meeting, the Committee has released the following statement:

"Due to ongoing concerns about her health Anne has decided to resign as Chairman and stand down as a member of the Sale Sharks Supporters Club Committee.

The SSSC Committee wish her a full and speedy recovery."

The weekend's action

Sale FC could not have had a better pair of opening home matches this weekend, with the first xv winning 40-7 against Winnington Park, and the second xv 71-0 against Duckinfield. The thirds played away and lost 14-5 to Stockport.

On the friday night Sale Sharks put two teams onto the picth at Edgeley in an inter squad warmup, leaving Kingsley Jones and Phillpe Saint-Andre with a lot to think about when planning who should play when the Premiershp opens in two weeks time.

On the international circuit - congratulations to Sebastien Chabal who has made the bench for next friday's World Cup opener. France v Argentina should be an explosive match, and it might just be one of the biggest upsets too if the huge Argentines make the step up.