Rotherham Titans were denied a famous victory as Sale scored in the final play of the game to run out 21-17 winners on a bright but at times wet afternoon at Heywood Road.
Sale crashed over from a catch and drive in the fifth minute of injury time and although the referee couldn’t see the ball grounded, the assistant referee gave the try.
Titans crossed the whitewash twice with scores from Charlie Capps and Tomasi Tanumi, with Lloyd Hayes adding 7 points from the tee.
Despite the disappointment of defeat Rotherham can be proud of their efforts against one of the top established sides in the division.
They will now focus their attention on next week’s visit of Ding’s Crusaders to Clifton Lane.
Sale started the game brightly with their early efforts being rewarded on 5 minutes when scrum half Joe Green finished off a nice break from the home side.
The early score in previous times may have sent out an ominous warning to the Titans, but in truth it was Rotherham that enjoyed the lion’s share of territory and possession thereafter; their set piece worked well throughout and once again their pack had the better of things at scrum time.
Indeed, Sale wouldn’t score again until 5 minutes before the end.
Rotherham soon levelled matters when loosehead prop Charlie Capps went over after some powerful work close to the line.
Titans took a deserved lead before the half hour mark when centre Tomasi Tanumi found a gap in the Sale defence to slip through and score.
Before the break Rotherham had opportunities to add to their tally, but credit to Sale as their determined defence managed to keep them out.
Lloyd Hayes extended the South Yorkshire sides lead to 17-7 before the hour mark and at this stage it looked as if Roth would go on to run out comfortable winners.
However, Sale are not a top-end side without just cause.
Having hung-in for much of the second half, their time came on 75 minutes when Stone Priestley-Nangle managed to squeeze through the Titans defence to dot down under the posts to set up a tense finale.
In the final play of the game Sale were awarded a penalty and rather than opting to take the 3 points and draw the game, they took the brave option of kicking to the corner.
From the line out a melee ensued over the Titans line and whilst it seemed as if the ball was held up and as no one appeared to be able to see if the ball was grounded or not, it looked as if the only option available to the referee was to signal held up and blow for time.
Unfortunately for Rotherham the touch judge who was ten metres away was able to advise the referee that a try had been scored.
So the game ended in heartbreak for Rotherham, but they can take pride in their performance and confidence in the knowledge they can compete with the best sides in the division.
Speaking post match Harvey Biljon reflected:
“I think you saw a reaction from Sale today and they put in one hell of a performance and gave us a real battle. I think what was encouraging and what we enjoyed was giving our squad a taste of what a top-end National 1 game feels like and looks like.
“It might be a little bit disheartening when you lose a game in injury time, but at the same time I was really impressed by the effort from our players and I’m excited because we’re still learning and we’ve still got a long way to go.
“There was three or four moments with the officials where we gave away a few penalties and we need to go away and understand how to get on their side, because when you look at it from the touchline you’ve got confusion.
“So it’s how the players take those messages from the referee and make sure they can adapt at the right time.
“I don’t have the answers for our players on a couple of questions they have given me, so I’ve got to go away and find out how we can coach those moments in training through the week.
“However, we have just come away from home to Sale FC and taken a point; no one gave us a hope at the beginning of the season. Let’s get encouraged about taking a point against a very good team and look forward to our next challenge against Dings Crusaders.”
Titans: Capps (T), Tanumi (T), Hayes (2C, 1P)
Sale FC: Green (T), Priestley-Nangle (T), Brown (T), Hunt (3C)
Yellow Card: None
Attendance: 600
Referee: Adam Wookey
Assistant Referees: Adam Carpenter & Michael Harris
Titans: 15 Jack Townend, 14 Travis Gideon, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Tomasi Tanumi, 11 Ronnie Du Randt, 10 Rob Povey (Ollivent 34) (Povey 40), 9 JB Bruzulier, 1 Charlie Capps (Capt.) (Kivalu 30) (Capps 46), 2 Jack Bergmanas (Cole 47), 3 Andrew Foster (Stout 30) (Foster 46) (Stout 74), 4 Frankie Gascoigne (Copley 42), 5 Curran Maguire, 6 John Okafor, 7 Harry Newborn, 8 Callum Bustin.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 Loma Kivalu, 18 Rikki Stout, 19 Ben Copley, 20 Corben Ollivent.
Sale FC: 15 Mark Dixon, 14 Obi Ene, 13 Fergus Mulchrone, 12 James Robins, 11 Tom Walsh (Roberts 59), 10 Will Hunt, 9 Joe Green (Street 47), 1 Ben Carlile (Brown 56), 2 Josh Brown (Pope 42), 3 Ciaran Parker (Ford 47), 4 Nick Gray, 5 Evan Mintern, 6 Jos Gilmore (Priestley-Nangle 47), 7 Ciaran Booth (Carlile 68), 8 Andrew Hughes (Capt.).
Replacements: 16 Jake Pope, 17 Callum Ford, 18 Stone Priestley-Nangle, 19 Osian Roberts, 20 Sean Street.
Photo: Gareth Lyons