“Cohesion” has become a fashionable term in rugby and there can be no doubt which team displayed more of the “C” word here. Despite losing the prop Nick Schonert to a seventh-minute red card, Sale dominated on a glistening late-summer’s day in the south-west. The Sharks’ impressively joined-up approach, executed with no little power and precision, extinguished Johan van Graan’s hopes of victory on his Premiership bow as head coach at the Recreation Ground.
Van Graan’s side began their league campaign with a narrow defeat by Bristol last week but this, considering the fact they had a man extra for 73 minutes, was far more dispiriting. Another season of frustration beckons unless the former Munster coach can galvanise his players and transform them, collectively, into something durable. News that the England back row Sam Underhill needs surgery on a shoulder problem, and will be out for 12 weeks, will hardly help.
