Mallinder happy with draw
December 8, 2001

Sale coach Jim Mallinder would have settled for a draw after a poor first-half showing - and that is what he ended up with out of today's Zurich Premiership match at home to London Irish.

The unlikely title contenders fought out a 19-19 stalemate at Heywood Road, but only after they had fought back from a 16-6 deficit.

Three missed penalties from Irish stand-off Barry Everitt and a last-ditch Charlie Hodgson tackle on Paul Sackey earned Sale a share of the spoils.

"I would have settled for a draw at half-time," said Mallinder, whose side therefore jumped into second in the table.

"We had a chance to win it at one stage, but that would have been hard on London Irish. They dominated for 50 minutes, and on reflection it was a fair result.

"We lost the first couple of line-outs and after that we were always struggling. It seemed to sort itself out eventually, but a win for us would have been unjust."

Irish seemed to have the game under control when lock Ryan Strudwick toppled over for the only first-half try.

The Irish defence had the upper hand over a Sale attack in which the undoubted talents of Hodgson and Jason Robinson were strangely subdued.

But a stop-start second period - plus injuries to player-coach Brendan Venter, veteran number eight Chris Sheasby and even referee John Barnard - conspired to wreck the Exiles' attacking momentum.

Sale were well on top by the time Hodgson put Mel Deane through a huge hole in the visitors' defence.

The conversion brought Sale level, and Hodgson's fourth penalty briefly put them in front only for Everitt to find his range and tie the scores with his fourth successful kick.

"I'm not going to blame Barry," said Irish director of rugby Conor O'Shea.

"He has won us plenty of games in the past and will do so again.

"Paul Sackey said he might have stepped inside at the end, but I thought he was well covered.

"We don't seem to have been gifted many points so far this season - maybe they will come in the second half of the campaign."

Irish remain well placed for a challenge on a Heineken Cup spot for the remainder of the year.

But it looks likely that their immediate challenges will be faced without Venter and flanker Eddie Halvey, who was forced off the field at the 20-minute mark.

"Brendan suffered a bang on his nose, which was bleeding quite badly," said O'Shea.

"It stopped eventually, but there may be some damage there. As for Eddie, I think he might have suffered medial ligament damage - but we will have to wait for a further assessment."

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