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Gloucester 44 Sale Sharks 24

Jenny Dixon
29/ 1/2007

SHARKS suffered their heaviest defeat of the season on Saturday - a 20-point loss against Gloucester.

Coaches Philippe Saint-Andre and Kingsley Jones returned to Kingsholm, their former stomping ground, and witnessed Gloucester pick holes in the flimsy fabric of Sale's patched together team, running in five tries.

The absence of half of Sale's injury-ravaged squad (16) would excuse a total meltdown, however, Saint-Andre's tired crew managed to score three tries through Ben Foden, Dean Schofield and Chris Mayor.

Their tough task, however, proved difficult right from the kick-off.

Sharks conceded a try, within two minutes of the game beginning, losing their own line-out in their own half, resulting in Gloucester's talented fly-half Ryan Lamb bagging the first points for the home side.

Despite attempts at a recovery the visitors never managed to loosen Gloucester's stranglehold on the game, tries by Iain Balshaw, Olivier Azam, captain Marco Bortolami and Olly Morgan securing third-placed Gloucester a bonus point and consigning troubled Sharks to a fourth defeat in five league games.

Full report in this week's Express