Prem

The Prem

Bath (19) 36

Tries: Arundell, De Glanville, Cokanasiga 2, Hennessey Cons: Russell 4 Pens: Russell

Sale (7) 28

Tries: Jibulu, O’Flaherty, Cowan-Dickie, Canakaivata Cons: Ford 4

Joe Cokanasiga scored twice as Bath ended a three-game winless run in all competitions with victory over Sale.

Henry Arundell, Tom de Glanville and Louis Hennessey also got on the scoreboard for the hosts as they took a maximum of five points to go into the international break on a high.

Nathan Jibulu and Tom O’Flaherty crossed for Sale and they were largely outclassed until the final 10 minutes when Luke Cowan-Dickie and Elia Canakaivata added late tries, to ensure the Sharks at least left the Recreation Ground with a point.

The result is the third loss of the campaign for Sale and means they go into the international break eighth, while Bath move up to fourth.

Bath have been hit by a raft of injuries to their backline in the early part of the season and while they are now without Santiago Carreras for the rest of the campaign, De Glanville and Arundell’s return from injuries proved timely.

Arundell needed less than three minutes to bag a try on his first Prem game of the season when he charged through a gap on halfway and used his speed to race into the corner.

Sale then enjoyed their best spell of pressure until the end of the game although were unable to turn frequent entries into Bath’s 22 into more than one try.

Prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour was turned over a few metres out and Joe Carpenter dropped a long pass when he had acres of space ahead, before Jibulu brought them level carrying over from the back of a maul.

De Glanville restored Bath’s lead, as the hosts switched direction across the pitch from a line-out and the full-back dashed through a gap when Tom Roebuck slipped trying to make a tackle.

Cokanasiga added their third with a well-worked team try started when Arundell caught a high ball on halfway, and they whipped it quickly through their backs, and in a two-on-one with De Glanville, Cokanasiga had a simple finish.

The wing had his second and Bath’s bonus-point fourth immediately into the second half, when he jumped to catch Russell’s cross-field kick, side-stepped past Alex Lozowski and stretched over under a tackle.

O’Flaherty replied minutes later at the other end with a superb one-handed dive into the corner as Sale looked for a way back in.

A Russell penalty stretched Bath 15 points clear and Hennessey ran on to a Bernard van der Linde grubber kick a minute after coming on to all-but seal victory.

Yet Sale rallied to end the game on top, with Cowan-Dickie barging through before Canakaivata grabbed another try in the final minute to give Sale a point.

Bath: De Glanville; Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Ojomoh, Arundell; Russell, Spencer (c); Obano, Frost, Griffin, Jeanes, Ewels, Hill, Reid, Bayliss.

Replacements: Dunn, Wheeler, Stuart, Opoku-Gyamfi, Richards, Van Der Linde, Hennessey, Coetzee.

Sale: Carpenter; Roebuck, Marchant, Lozowski, O’Flaherty; Ford, Warr; Smith, Jibulu, Opoku-Fordjour, Van Rhyn (c), Bamber, Tshiunza, B. Curry, T. Curry.

Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, McIntyre, Francis, Burrow, Dugdale, Hanson, Ma’asi-White, Canakaivata.

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe

For all the free-flowing, high-scoring rugby in the Prem so far this season, this weekend was something of a throwback.

There were only 21 tries across the five games, whereas a fortnight ago there were 18 tries in the Northampton against Bath game alone.

But, despite the abominable weather altering the whole complexion of round four, there was no shortage of drama.

In the East Midlands derby on Saturday, Leicester Tigers produced a second-half performance that was as vintage Leicester Tigers as you could possibly get: a brutal set-piece and forward display that shook the old foundations of the Crumbie Stand and would have made the ABC Club proud.

In front of a febrile sell-out crowd, the game was played on the edge – a major scuffle breaking out on the stroke of half-time with England team-mates Henry Pollock and Ollie Chessum in the thick of it.

But tensions will have eased quickly. Thirteen of those involved in the derby met up for dinner in the England camp on Sunday.

“This fixture always has some heat behind it, and we know it means a lot to each other and to the fans,” Leicester and England scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet explained to BBC Radio 5 Live.

“We just try and put all our heart on to the pitch. Sometimes it boils over into a little scuffle, but we will go and have a beer with them now. That’s what rugby is about. You play fierce with each other and then enjoy each other’s company.

“We always end up laughing about it. Being in England camp with them almost makes the fixture mean a bit more, because you always want one over them.”

Northampton are the champions and still the team to beat. However, that’s twice in six months they’ve been handed a lesson by the Tigers at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.

Saints fans will be comforted by the fact the title is decided in the warm early summer months of May and June, but boss Phil Dowson will still want his side to be as effective in the wet as they are in the dry.