{"id":107495,"date":"2025-05-16T23:03:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T23:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/107495\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T23:03:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T23:03:09","slug":"sale-sharks-v-bristol-bears-five-takeaways-as-george-ford-stars-again-planet-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/107495\/","title":{"rendered":"Sale Sharks v Bristol Bears: Five takeaways as George Ford stars again : Planet Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following a 41-27 victory for Sale Sharks over Bristol Bears in the Premiership on Friday, here\u2019s our five takeaways from the game at Salford Community Stadium.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Delight for Sale\u2026 despair for Bristol<\/p>\n

This match had monumental importance in the race for the play-offs and Sale<\/a> deservedly edged it as the educated boot of George Ford<\/a> proved the difference as he claimed a 16-point haul.<\/p>\n

Okay, so both teams scored five tries \u2013 but the visitors\u2019 final two scores came late on with the game over and the hosts having switched off.<\/p>\n

That was disappointing from Alex Sanderson\u2019s perspective as it allowed Bristol<\/a> to make the long trip home with a losing bonus point.<\/p>\n

But that Sale were worthy winners was undeniable and they head to Exeter on May 31 knowing that victory would seal their third successive play-off appearance.<\/p>\n

For Bristol, their hopes now hang in the balance heading into their final-day home clash with Harlequins.<\/p>\n

Sale\u2019s home comforts<\/p>\n

Sanderson\u2019s men are formidable on home soil and they proved that again by running out worthy victors against the Bears.<\/p>\n

This latest success gave them a 26th win from 29 Premiership games at the Salford Community Stadium dating back to the start of the 2022\/23 campaign.<\/p>\n

That is impressive to say the least.<\/p>\n

Okay, so the Salford Community Stadium is not the most homely of stadiums but few visiting teams go there and win. Just ask Bristol.<\/p>\n

Matt Williams raises doubts over Maro Itoje\u2019s \u2018rocky\u2019 leadership as British and Irish Lions captain lacks \u2018inspiration\u2019<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Ford stars once again for Sale<\/p>\n

When will Sale\u2019s master craftsman tire of teasing and tormenting rival defences with his array of attacking skills?<\/p>\n

The England fly-half was recently overlooked by Andy Farrell for a place in the British & Irish Lions squad for their summer tour of Australia.<\/p>\n

But he continues to prove invaluable to his club and is arguably in the best form of his Sale career.<\/p>\n

When he exerts this kind of influence, few players in his position can rival Ford; certainly in the Premiership<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bristol in danger of falling short again<\/p>\n

Pat Lam has been backed heavily in the transfer market and everything at Bristol is geared up for success.<\/p>\n

The genial Bears boss has been credited with changing the culture of the club since his arrival.<\/p>\n

But what should not be overlooked is the fact they have not made the Premiership play-offs since the 2020\/21 season.<\/p>\n

Failure to make the top four again would not be a good look for a club so ambitious.<\/p>\n

Raffi Quirke \u2013 remember him?<\/p>\n

The local lad from Manchester is a supremely-talented player but his progress in recent years has been hampered by injuries.<\/p>\n

So to see him come off the bench and score a delightful second-half try was heartening.<\/p>\n

His ability has been clear to see since he made his England debut against Australia in 2021 and scoring the winning try against South Africa in that autumn\u2019s series.<\/p>\n

Now he looks ripe to try and help Sale become champions for the first time since 2006.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Exeter Chiefs confirm ANOTHER coach\u2019s exit in a bid to solve \u2018clear disconnect\u2019 with ex-England fly-half primed as successor<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following a 41-27 victory for Sale Sharks over Bristol Bears in the Premiership on Friday, here\u2019s our five…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,748,393,126,4884,225,12,6875,2384,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-107495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-features","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-home-page","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-premiership","16":"tag-sale-sharks","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114520011794206638","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}