Wirral 0, Sale FC 61

AFTER last week's quarter final win over Caldy, Wirral now played Sale from National League 1 in the Cheshire Cup semi-final at the Memorial Ground.

Sale were a different proposition to last week's opponents and were much slicker in the backs with speed of play and sheer pace, which resulted in a comfortable win for Sale.

Within 19 minutes Sale had established a 0-21 lead as they demonstrated the ability to capitalise on their breaks and to take opportunities as they arose.

For their part, Wirral battled to contain Sale and when they did have the ball they were able to make progress down the field and more importantly retain some pressure.

By half-time Sale had established a 0-35 lead and then Wirral used the opportunity during the second half to give all members of their large squad a run out.

Playing with the wind Sale were able to use this to good advantage in terms of territory, but for a period of 20 minutes in this half Wirral prevented Sale from scoring but they could not capitalise on the few half breaks that they made.

In the final quarter, Sale ran in a further three tries to win 0-61, with the fly half converting eight of the nine tries scored.

This was a clinical display of rugby from Sale worthy of their position in the league structure with a plucky display from the Wirral side who continued to attack where possible until the final whistle.