Northampton 21 Discount 17
George Furbank put himself in the Six Nations shop window as he took Northampton to the top of the Premiership and retained his golden captain’s touch. Furbank, encouraged by Courtney Lawes from the bench, helped Saints score the blue goal in the second half, where the first period ended in complete slag.
It was the full-back’s quick thinking that enabled him to try to break the game in the 69th minute when he took a quick kick penalty and dived over the line as Northampton lost 17-14. The TMO were required to judge the ground after substitute prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour tried to tackle Furbank from an offside position and referee Matt Carley tried for a penalty and gave the youngster a yellow card.
Furbank captained Northampton nine times and won the toss in Lewis Ludlam’s absence, adding to his bow. And with a new World Cup cycle starting, 27-year-old Furbank could get the chance to add a handful of caps as he could make a return at 10 or 15 with Steve Borthwick set to name his squad in mid-January.
“He’s had a taste of England and hasn’t had a lot of opportunities and he’s obviously disappointed as he’s an ambitious, driven lad who wants to go on and do those things,” Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson said.
“He came in with the mentality of not being in that group, almost to the point of proving something. The fact that he became stronger in the pre-season was also reflected in his performance. “He’s a smart guy and his leadership allowed him to leave his mark on the team.”
Furbank’s score capped a resilient performance from Saints, who looked down when George Ford’s 58th-minute drop goal completed Luke Cowan-Dickie’s try 10 minutes earlier to put Sale 10 points ahead. But Lawes, who will not be available for the Six Nations, added some spark to the game as Alex Mitchell crossed from point-blank range to provide a thrilling end to the game. But the sale ended with a bonus point, which they failed to achieve in campaigns against Exeter and Harlequins earlier this season.
Director of rugby Alex Sanderson said: “I thought their mentality and effort tonight was outstanding and you don’t lose too many games with that kind of mentality. It feels very different to the few other losses we’ve had this year where we haven’t been involved in runs. “We were in the fight, we were ready for it and there were some lost tackles and some discipline “Even if it wasn’t, we probably won the game in the short and curls.”
The first half was desperate, containing over 40 kicks, most of them pointless, and there was virtually no obstacle to attacking rugby until just before the break. So much for the game being sold, although there were probably few fans present after a second half that was light years away from what was on offer earlier in the day.
Scotland and England are eyeing Sale trio Tom Roebuck and Arron Reed and scrum-half Gus Warr, while Northampton fly-half Fin Smith could also be the subject of a tussle between national coaches Gregor Townsend and Borthwick. But if any of these duo look to the first-half video for any clues about the Six Nations selection, they’d better not bother.
Northampton have been the loose side in the Premiership so far this season, but they were scattering the ball left, right and centre, when they had the ball in hand and looked to attack with scrum-half Alex Mitchell striking in from 25 yards out to nowhere. The sales line summed it up. Selling on the front foot was no better as they too were hitting the ball with the boot rather than counter-attacking. This meant the Saints defenders could fall behind and the match could turn into long matches of kick tennis.
Ultimately, Ford was instrumental in breaking down the Northampton defense as spectators were set to witness the first goalless 40th-minute opener in the league since Gloucester and Leicester settled a similar stalemate in March.
Rob du Preez moved into the 12 in Manu Tuilagi’s absence, connecting at half-back and bringing in full-back Joe Carpenter three minutes before the break. Luckily things picked up after the break with Lawes and Furbank coming to the fore.
Match details
Scoring order (Northampton first): 0-5 Carpenter’s trial; 0-7 Ford con (first half) 0-12 Cowan-Dickie try, 0-14 Ford con, 5-14 Furbank try, 7-14 Smith con, 7-17 Ford drop goal, 12-17 Mitchell try, 14 – 17 Smith con, 21-17 Northampton penalty try
Northampton: G.Furbank (captain); T.Freeman, B.Odendaal (T.Litchfield 73), R.Hutchinson, O.Sleightholme; F.Smith, A.Mitchell; A.Waller (T.Haffar 56), S.Matavesi (C.Langdon 48), T.Davison (P.Hill 54-75), C.Munga (A.Moon 48), A.Coles, A.Scott- Young (C.Lawes 58), T.Pearson, J.Augustus (S.Graham 70)
No backup used: C.Braley
Sales: J.Carpenter; T.Roebuck, S.James, R.Du Preez (R.Ma’asi-White 73), A.Reed (T.Veainu 72); G.Ford, G.Warr (N.Thomas 76); R.Harrison (T.Onasanya 75), L.Cowan-Dickie (T.Taylor 58), N.Schonert (A.Opoku-Fordjour 48), C.Wiese (S.Dugdale 44), J.Hill (J. Beaumont 63), E.Van Rhyn (S.Dugdale 40+3-HT), B.Curry (captain), JL.Du Preez (N.Schonert 73)
Yellow card: Opoku-Fordjour (69) Referee: M Carley (RFU)
Participation: 15,153