No-one will ever complain that following Sale Sharks is dull and uninteresting. Fresh off a shock 13-26 defeat to Gloucester at the usually-impenetrable AJ Bell Stadium, Sale stormed out to a 17-5 lead thanks to a very well-taken Will Addison brace, promptly conceded 26 unanswered points to find themselves down 31-17 with half an hour to go before two pushover tries from Neil Briggs and Halani Aulika ensured that after 80 minutes played and 68 points scored, Sale and Worcester finished the Sixways clash tied 34 apiece. From one perspective, it is disappointing that Sale, for the second consecutive season, have failed to travel down to Sixways and beat a Worcester team that, with all due respect, appeared destined for another 10th-12th place finish this season. Last week's defeat made it apparent that Sale had unachieved mightily to start the season given their relatively gentle fixture list through three rounds and Saturday's game will have been earmarked as a potential momentum-builder especially given Worcester's winless start to 2016-17. The long and short of it is that if Sale are serious about repeating their top-six finish again this season, game's like Saturday's are absolute must-wins. To have failed in this regard, especially after such a barnstorming opening thirty minutes, is bitterly disappointing. The other position to adopt however - and this is largely the one yours truly has taken - is that picking up three points (two for a draw, one for the four-try bonus point) away at any side in the Premiership is a, if not ideal, pretty strong result, especially given the fourteen points deficit that was surmounted in the game's final quarter. Yes, Worcester are winless and this is a game Sale should have won, but paradoxically it is also a game they should have lost. A draw was probably the fairest of outcomes. Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the game however is the impact of AJ MacGinty who played the entire 80 minutes at fly-half. In comparison to last season's 31-23 loss at the same ground, Sale's fly-half on the day was Danny Cipriani who went one-for-five from the tee and cost Sale a valuable losing bonus point - and potentially a win had they scored another try - with a horrendously rushed conversion attempt with just over a minute remaining in the game the particular lowlight of an abysmal kicking display. To bring in MacGinty then, the Irish-cum-American number 10 produced a display the polar opposite to Cipriani's effort seven months ago, going a perfect six-for-six at attempts on goal including a couple of superb touchline efforts - had he missed even one, Sale would have travelled home with a single point rather than three. That's not to say Sale's eventual three-point haul is down solely to MacGinty's boot; Addison's opportunism and the abrasive second-half display from the Sale forwards were just as integral to the result, but it is fascinating to see in MacGinty's first real outing as Sale's go-to playmaker (disregarding his first-half appearance against Newcastle in which he saw the ball maybe three times) the difference that having a metronomical kicker can make. MacGinty's distribution on the day was hardly Cipriani-esque - and it is clear that is an area where Sale will see somewhat of a downgrade - but the simple fact is that for all of Cipriani's mercurial ability he was and is one of the worst percentage kickers in the Premiership and that if he started over MacGinty on Saturday, this is not a game Sale would have got three points out of. Things are slowly beginning to click for Sale after a sputtering start to the season. The result at Sixways wasn't ideal but aside from a dire twenty-minute period either side of half-time, there is plenty to be encouraged about heading into next week of which MacGinty must take centre stage. Next up is a dangerous-looking Leicester Tigers side that just hung 34 points on Bath. If the Sharks continue to improve at their current rate, we shouldn't see a repeat of the Gloucester game. Observations
Honourable mentions: Neil Briggs, David Seymour Follow The Shark Tank on Twitter for more news, analysis and opinions on all things Sale Sharks
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