Ruthless Sale Sharks crush Newcastle Red Bulls 55-5

Sale Sharks put on a blistering attacking display to dismantle Newcastle 57–5 in their Premiership clash, with Rob du Preez, Tom Roebuck, Arron Reed, Ernst van Rhyn, Luke Cowan-Dickie, and Nathan Jibulu all on the scoresheet.

George Ford controlled proceedings with his boot, while Newcastle managed only a solitary second-half try through Elliott Obatoyinbo.

Sale made their intentions clear from the outset. In the 7th minute Rob du Preez broke through to open the scoring, Ford converting for a 7–0 lead.

Three minutes later Tom Roebuck added a second, again converted by Ford, and by the 14th minute Luke Cowan-Dickie had powered over to make it 19–0. Newcastle’s problems deepened when centre Max Clark was sent to the sin-bin for infringing, and Ford’s conversion stretched the margin to 21–0.

Sale’s dominance up front brought a fourth try just past the half-hour mark, Ernst van Rhyn finishing off relentless pressure. Cowan-Dickie was then yellow-carded in the 34th minute, but even a man down, Sale struck again before the interval as Reed crossed in the 40th minute.

Ford missed the extras, but at half-time the scoreboard already read 31–0 in favour of the hosts.

Newcastle finally found a moment of joy after the restart. Full-back Elliott Obatoyinbo sliced through in the 48th minute for the Red Bulls’ only try of the night, but Brett Connon pulled his conversion wide, leaving the deficit at 31–5.

Any hopes of a comeback were quickly extinguished. Roebuck grabbed his second in the 54th minute, converted by Ford, before Jibulu powered over in the 71st to push the tally beyond 40.

Reed then claimed his brace in the 77th minute, again converted by Ford, before the Tom Roebuck capped off with the final try in the 79th minute to help Sharks complete a convincing win.