Despite a late charge from the visitors at the AJ Bell Stadium on Friday evening, Sale defeated Gloucester 31-27 in a thrilling display that takes them to fourth place in the Gallagher Premiership table.
The match was pumped with thrilling attacking moments and last-ditch defensive efforts as both sides looked to take control.
The key difference between the two sides arguably came down to one man, Arron Reed. The Sale player of the match was phenomenal throughout – devastating on the attack and utterly ruthless in defence.
It was his try-saving tackles that truly optimised the young man’s talents. He displayed incredible speed, dogged determination and expert tackling technique to stop Charlie Atkinson from scoring an almost certain interception try late on.
Incredible defence from Arron Reed!! 😱 pic.twitter.com/MT4f44eL7z
— Jack Tunney (@JackTunneyRugby) October 5, 2024
Reed’s defensive efforts were shown once again in the final play of the game, smashing Charlie Atkinson into touch for what could have been a match-winning try for Gloucester.
The Player of the Match with the tackle of the match! 💪
Sale edge out Gloucester in a 58 point thriller!#GallagherPrem | #SALvGLO pic.twitter.com/FbjqQa1xRG
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) October 4, 2024
A regular in the Sale Sharks squad, and a former England youth player, Reed qualified for Scotland through his father, before debuting at the 2024 Skyscanner Americas Tour, scoring two tries against Canada in Ottawa.
Gloucester director of rugby George Skivington spoke to BBC Radio Gloucestershire about the defeat, saying:
“It was always going to be a challenge. You know that playing rugby up here is going to put you under a lot of pressure, but ultimately we’ve chosen a way we’re going to play and we figured this was going to be an acid test for us.
“We knew exactly what Sale would be drilling all week and fair play, they did it really well.
“I don’t know what the running metres were for our lads but they attacked and attacked and eventually we came away with two points.
“We didn’t quite flick the switch in defence tonight. We attacked really well but there’s going to be pain with the way we’re attacking – you can’t play the way we’re playing and not expect a few things to go wrong, and we’ll live with that because when it’s good, it’s good.”
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