Cardiff City Blues

Now I know the clue's in the title and in no way do I wish to denigrate or criticise - certain local landmarks need to be preserved and memorialised, particularly when the coal industry in the area has been so cruelly and ruthlessly decimated.

Alright the title may be unimaginative, even a little dull, but it is at least truthful and honest. I'm sure given time the marketing department at Edgeley Park could give it some spin and come up with something more hard-hitting.

Then again, what Terrific 12' and Rugby to set your heart racing' might gain in terms of impact, they lose in credibility. At least The Big Pit' says it like it is.

All I can tell you is that after barely 30 minutes of Friday night's EDF encounter with Cardiff Blues I could quite easily have thrown myself headlong down that hole such was my embarrassment at the standard of performance offered by Sale Sharks.

Forget the idea of being "in it to win it" - it looked to all intents and purposes that we were merely in it to make up the numbers.

I suppose Sale were always likely to be up against it.

Dai Young has managed to assemble possibly the strongest squad of players to represent the region in 20 years. They've got power, pace, ingenuity and ability in all departments and in Shanklin, Thomas, Rush and Sowden-Taylor they have world class players.

I knew we were always likely to struggle given these circumstances, but I expected Sale to turn up and not be so utterly overwhelmed.

We were on the back foot from the first whistle. Cardiff like to throw the ball around and run moves even from deep in their own 22. They aren't afraid to take risks, but these are always calculated ones.

It didn't help matters when our lineout went to pot. Bruno's returning presence certainly added to the strength of our set piece and gave us extra physicality in the loose, but sadly his throwing accuracy was wide of the mark.

The only area in which we managed to exert any sort of domination was in the scrum. Our tight five, particularly the Gallic front three of Faure, Bruno and Bourrust were dominant and in all fairness mullered the Cardiff front row, despite the presence of British Lion Gethin Jenkins.

An early defensive scrum five metres in, just outside our 22, seemed to present little threat.

It appeared obvious that we would try and wheel the Cardiff scrum and keep the blind-side shored up and covered. Bizarrely all our backline cover fanned out across the park to counteract any Cardiff threat out wide.

When the scrum was duly wheeled there was no Sale cover as the ball squirted out the side of the scrum and Deiniol Jones was able to peel away unopposed and charge towards the line.

Everyone was static - it was as if no-one in a white shirt had spotted the danger. Ripol, Martens and Laharrague found themselves hopelessly out of position defending against a threat that never materialised.

I never played in the tight five myself. I wasn't big or daft enough, but I do appreciate that most games are won and lost there.

If I'd put in all that effort only to find that the opposition could stroll in unchallenged bar for a desperate rearguard lunge by Hodgson on Spice, then I would've been a tad miffed to say the least.

Where was the communication? Where was the understanding? Do our backs not talk to the forwards?

On the evidence of the first five minutes you'd doubt it.

The next 25 minutes were some of the most painful I've witnessed as a Sale fan.

We sat back and attempted to absorb the pressure as wave after wave of Cardiff attacks rained down upon us. We never managed to nail any first tackles and consequently got stretched to the point where you sensed another Quins debacle.

Poor old Charlie had to act as a secondary full back, corner-flagging our goal line just to shore up the gaps.

That's not his job. He should be further up the park pulling the strings and launching counter-attacks.

All we could offer in return was a little up-your-jumper rugby and slow, slow ball. Any territorial and physical dominance we gained through our scrummaging was wasted by not being able to get the ball away from the break down and give our backline any chance to make amends.

I know Lilo offers something different when he plays - strength and power, but a scrum half's not much use if he's lying at the bottom of a ruck. Perhaps someone should have a word and remind him he's a 9, not a flanker.

We were getting murdered. Had Charlie not pounced on yet another wayward ball in our in-goal area we would've been 12 points down within the first 10 minutes!

Laharrague did take the chance to run the ball on the few occasions we were able to find any space, earning a penalty for obstruction which Thomas duly despatched.

Cardiff, inspired by the powerful running of Xavier Rush and the silky smooth skills of Tom Shanklin, led the Sharks a merry dance, pulling the defence this way and that and creating glaring gaps to exploit.

Instead of varying our options we decided to stick with the same chip and chase tactic. The Blues anticipated this and easily forced turnovers, kicking into the undefended space behind Sale's advancing backline.

It wasn't long before Cardiff were able to exploit this space.

A fantastic run by Jamie Roberts tore Sale's wayward defence apart leaving Gareth Thomas unmarked on the right flank. Normally you would think that if the cover was there in the form of Ripol, Lamont and Keil then this threat would've been easy to deal with, but Thomas simply straightened his run and took all three defenders out with absolute ease.

It was starting to look embarrassing.

Two minutes later and history started to repeat itself. Sale's scrum collapsed giving turnover ball to the Blues and before our tight five even got back to their feet, the ball was spun out wide and Lamont found himself isolated facing both Thomas and Roberts. Another try and the heads really started to drop.

Five minutes after that Ben Blair scorched through the centre, side-stepping Thomas and shrugging off Keil. Even though Charlie managed to make the last-gasp tackle Blair was able to offload to the ever-present Rush who had the simplest of tasks and dabbed the ball down.

27 points to three and I felt like I wanted to go and hide in the darkest of dark places. You just hoped that a few teacups were thrown in the dressing room during the break and a few home truths pointed out.

Sale came out for the second period and immediately the change was evident.

Mayor replaced Keil at centre adding some much needed pace. Before long Wigglesworth replaced Lilo at 9 and at long last the hard work of our forwards resulted in some quick ball for our backline.

The Sharks looked like a team that had ambitions and they started to play the team in front of them, rather than just playing to a gameplan.

This pressure paid dividends - Cardiff's scrambled and frantic defending couldn't cope.

Molitka was carded by Dave Pearson for killing the ball. In all fairness it was probably the only decision he gave us all night.

He could, had he chosen to, have carded Tito at the same time for the same offence, but hey, you can't upset the home fans, can you? It had happened throughout the first period but went unchallenged.

You can normally count the games where the ref has given you a fair crack of the whip on the fingers of one hand. In Mr Pearson's case I reckon you could count them on just the single digit.

Granted we did win the Premiership Final, but that's a while ago now.

With Cardiff down to 14, Sale should've been able to make more of the advantage and stretch the Blues defence. All we could manage unfortunately was a great deal of possession but little if any penetration.

It didn't help that the injuries started to rack up. Schofield was replaced by Hills, Maggie by Briggs and Bourrust by Evans.

Still at least we began to show that we too can throw the ball around. It's a shame we only ever seem to do this in the second period away from home and usually only when the game's already lost.

Laharrague found his twinkling toes more during the second half and demonstrated why he can be such a threat going forward. After some good approach play and a few pick and go phases, he found himself with a yard of space and managed to sidestep Sidoli and offload to Lee Thomas who grounded the ball just by the posts and then converted his own try.

Steve Hanley replaced Ripol on the wing and we eventually finished up with a team many of us wish had started. It worked very well at Stradey Park two years before when we narrowly lost to the Scarlets and I can't help thinking it might have been worth a punt this time too.

Stan hasn't really been given too many opportunities of late but showed as soon as he came on that when he's fired up he can be up there with the best. His tackle on John Yapp showed he meant business.

Following a quick tap by Hanley for a Cardiff offside, Sale put together their best move of the match and showed when we move the ball wide at pace we can be devastating. He chipped and caught his own pass and fed the ball to Thomas.

He powered the ball infield and offloaded to Briggsy who deftly tipped on the pass to Lamont. With a surge down the wing and strong hands, Lamont was able to handoff despairing Cardiff tackles and run the ball into the corner.

It mattered not that Thomas couldn't convert, the game was over anyway, but at least it showed what we are capable of doing.

In the final play of the night a pin-point crossfield kick from Robinson found Tom James lurking on the wing. On any other night Lamont would've taken both man and ball, but for some reason he managed to get neither.

Fair play to James though, he'd had a very productive night's work. By the time the final opportunity came his way he looked like he done 12 rounds with Bruno - Frank that is. I'm surprised he could see where the try-line was with that shiner.

So it ended 32-15, and another defeat away from home.

If you discount the victory over Calvisano which, though closer than anyone would've liked, was and should never really have been in question, we now haven't won on the road for over a year. This is a cause of great concern to us all.

I can't understand why we can't manage to win as we have a sufficiently strong squad. I know some will blame it on the World Cup and others on injury, but they're just excuses as far as I can see. We have plenty of strength in depth.

Coxy, as well as showing spirit and determination finished up playing second row, number 8 and flanker in the one match and held his own in each position.

Chris Day showed he has what it takes at this level as did Briggsy playing in the back row and Mike Hills on the openside.

Poor old Chris Mayor must wonder what it takes to get a start. He played with real determination and made a huge difference to our performance in the second half.

These boys are the ones who have got us this far this season and, if it were up to me, these are the boys we should stick with. They've now got the experience and will be stronger for it.

Let's just hope they don't have to wait until February and the 6 Nations before they can carry on their good work.