Sale Sharks 46-34 London Wasps, Aviva Premiership
Hanks hails 'complete' attacking display
ESPNscrum Staff
February 24, 2012
Sale's Mark Cueto outstrips the cover, Sale v Wasps, Aviva Premeirship, Edgeley Park, Stockport, England, February 24, 2012
Mark Cueto skips away from Wasps' Nicky Robinson © Getty Images
Enlarge
Related Links
Tournaments/Tours: Aviva Premiership
Teams: Sale Sharks | Wasps

Sale Sharks head coach Tony Hanks unsurprisingly labelled his side's 46-34 victory over London Wasps as their most "complete" attacking performance of the season.

They scored six tries in all, three in each half, as they moved themselves back into play-off contention. Sam Tuitupou crossed the whitewash twice in the opening period alongside a Dwayne Peel touchdown, before Andy Powell, Johnny Leota and Rob Miller sealed the bonus-point win in the second half.

Hanks said: "It was the most complete [attacking performance]. There was a little bit of a structure, but I thought our off-loading and collision work allowed us to play. We took control of our own game and that's what was pleasing, but again the pace, the support play and the tempo we tried to play with [was excellent].

"I thought our half-backs managed the game really well in terms of their decision-making, in terms of when to go wide, when to return and when to go through the middle."

Hanks also reserved praised Powell and captain Tuitupou for their efforts. The No.8, in particular, stood out against his former club after not being named on Wales' bench for the England game. He added: "I think Powelly probably deserves a mention, he's had a tough month or so, but he's in great shape.

"I thought he started the game really well, then he had a couple of hiccups when he probably started to over play it, and then second half you just saw how far he's come and matured as a player. Some of his involvements were big, you could see why he was a British Lion.

"I'm really pleased for Sammy too. Not a lot of people over here appreciate how good Sam Tuitupou is yet, but when he's line-breaking like that and having the involvements he was, it's really pleasing for us."

In contrast, Wasps' director of rugby Dai Young cut a forlorn figure and admitted his side came out second best against a strong Sale outfit. They responded with two late Joe Simpson tries to go alongside Dominic Waldouck's first-half touchdown, but it was not enough to garner a bonus-point.

"I think you have to put your hands up," Young said. "We struggled with their tempo that they brought to the game, their power runners were just too much for us to handle and they were always on the front-foot.

"Defensively, we really struggled to control their power runners and any team that gets on the front-foot, they're obviously going to cause you problems. The physicality they brought to the game was too much in the first half.

"The appetite was there, I just think they were overpowering us with some of their players they were bringing into the game."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Live Sports

Communication error please reload the page.