Bath 21 Sale 19: Hodgson's rescue act drops short

Bath survived two drop-goal attempts in the dying seconds from the erstwhile England fly-half Charlie Hodgson to snatch a valuable home Premiership victory over Sale yesterday.

Hodgson was left out of England's World Cup squad by the head coach, Brian Ashton, because he lacked match fitness after a long recovery from a serious knee injury. He was then overlooked as a replacement when Jamie Noon was injured against South Africa, the Newcastle fly-half or centre Toby Flood flying to France instead. Hiding his disappointment well, yesterday Hodgson steered Sale back into the game after it had looked as if they were being overrun in the early stages.

The Yorkshireman's inch-perfect tactical kicking andastute game-management kept Bath at bay and then helped his side turn the screw in the second half. He also kicked three penalties, a conversion and a drop goal, but in the final analy-sis it was not quite enough.

Bath hung on in the end, the winning score coming from their own fly-half, the former New South Wales Waratah Shaun Berne, with a short-range penalty three minutes from the end of the game.

The West Country club, still smarting at leaving the home of their arch-rivals, Leicester, without a losing bonus point last weekend, brought in Michael Stephenson at full-back, but the fly-half Ryan Davies and No 8 and captain Isaac Feau'nati were missing, so Berne moved inside to wear the No 10 shirt and also assumed the captaincy. Sale gave first starts of the season toStuart Turner, Chris Bell and Richard Wigglesworth, and David Tait came in on the open-side flank in place of Magnus Lund, another player left disappointed by his omission from England's World Cup squad.

Bath were quicker out of the blocks, winning a penalty for offside which Berne opted to kick to the corner. It was then a matter of a regulation catch-and-drive from the home forwards, which earned the South African hooker Pieter Dixon a try which was duly converted by Berne.

Hodgson missed a fairly straightforward kick at goal shortly afterwards and Bath were at their fluent best in conjuring a succession of sweeping back-line moves. Matt Banahan eventually stretched out an arm to score in the corner after 15 minutes. Unfortunately for the 6ft 7in wing he hurt himself in the process and went off, to be replaced by Jack Cuthbert, while Berne missed the conversion.

Hodgson then set about hauling Sale back into the game, first with a penalty after 18 minutes and then with a 25th-minute drop goal. After the Spanish wing Oriol Ripol scooted over on 28 minutes, Hodgson banged over the conversion to put Sale 13-12 in front. Stephenson, at full-back but usually a wing, was then subjected to a barrage of high kicks from the Sale fly-half, but the home side recovered their composure. The powerful flanker James Scaysbrook almost scored in the corner, but they had to be content with another Berne penalty to go into the break with a 15-13 lead.

Hodgson regained the initiative after the interval, kicking two penalties to establish a19-15 advantage for the visitors, and although Bath then set up a promising position, Berne spilled the ball. The Australian made amends with a straightforward penalty after 58 minutes and, as Sale introduced a rash of replacements, the pressure began to build from the home side.

A smart handling move saw Cuthbert bundled into touch and Berne then fluffed a simple penalty chance. With Andy Higgins running powerfully in the centre Bath frantically looked for an opening, but too often their handling skills let them down. They were relieved, therefore, when Berne was awarded a final, practically unmissable, penalty chance in front of the posts on 77 minutes. Hodgson could not quite find the target at the other end, from the left-hand side, and the points belonged to Bath.

Bath: M Stephenson; M Banahan (J Cuthbert, 16), A Higgins, T Cheeseman, I Davey; S Berne, M Claassens; D Barnes (L Ward, 77), P Dixon (R Hawkins, 70), A Jarvis, P Short (M Purdy, 58), D Grewcock, A Beattie (J Fa'amatuainu, 74), J Scaysbrook, D Browne (C Goodman, 64).

Sale: B Foden; C Mayor, C Bell, L Thomas (S Hanley, 50), O Ripol; C Hodgson, R Wigglesworth (S Martens, 71); L Faure, N Briggs, S Turner (B Evans, 54), D Schofield, S Cox (C Day, 72), C Jones, D Tait (M Lund, 58), N Bonner-Evans.

Referee: A Small (London).