Of all the indignities heaped on Harlequins this season, and goodness knows there have been a few, this Christmas stuffing was perhaps the most humiliating.
Leading 17-12 at the interval against a Sale side who had lost their last four in the Prem, they succumbed so meekly that Jason Gilmore, their senior coach, was forced to question their collective desire. This abject surrender came just six days after Quins were thumped 40-14 by Bristol at Twickenham.
“The boys care for the club – but there’s a difference between caring for the club and doing something about it,” the Queenslander said pointedly after his players conceded 31 second-half points without reply. “We will be looking hard at the squad in terms of what next year looks like.”
After a sixth defeat from eight in the league, Quins can almost certainly forget about the playoffs. But things are finally looking up again for Sale, who reduced their visitors to so much rubble with five second-half tries.
Sale’s recent dismal league run, culminating in a 47-21 defeat at Northampton last weekend, prompted the club’s wealthy owners to meet Alex Sanderson and his players. The basic message from Simon and Michelle Orange was “raise your game” and it was heeded.
At half-time, though, surely not even Sanderson, a positive person by nature, could have foreseen his side winning so convincingly.
“I’m quite emotional now actually but the owners have been really supportive,” said Sale’s director of rugby. “I just thought we were physically brilliant all game. We were down on the scoreboard at half-time, but that didn’t represent the physical dominance we had in that first half.
“It was a case of ‘more of the same, please’ and sometimes the plan just comes together, so I couldn’t be prouder of the lads. We desperately needed the win but could I have seen that second half coming? Not the scoreline.
“It blew out but I thought we were good value for the win. Even though we were 17-12 down at half-time, the lads stuck at it and they got their reward.”
If they could not beat another side struggling so badly in Quins, could Sale really consider themselves ready to start climbing the table?
It was a nightmarish start, though, for Sanderson and his players as Quins led early on when Marcus Smith dived over from close range.
Smith converted but Sale steadied themselves and hit back in the eighth minute with a slick try from Alex Wills from Rob du Preez’s exquisite long pass.
George Ford missed the conversion but his intricate probing came increasingly to the fore for Sale, who had their second try when their England and Lions hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie went over from close range.
Jack Walker’s close-range effort – and Smith’s conversion – put the visitors 17-12 up at the break but there was an impressive physicality about Sale and they were rewarded in spades during a ludicrously one-sided second half.
The flanker Jacques Vermeulen produced two smart tries to secure the bonus point and Sale, self-belief coursing through their veins, began to move through the gears in devastating fashion.
Centre Rekeiti Ma’asi-White finished off some delightful handling for their fifth before scrum-half Raffi Quirke pounced on an awful error from Smith to score Sale’s sixth. Quirke chased his own kick and Smith, inside his own in-goal area, dithered and allowed the ball to bounce beyond him, inviting Sale’s scrum-half to pounce and score.
It was a sweet moment for Quirke, who was switched to the wing at the end of the first half after Tom O’Flaherty moved to full-back to replace Joe Carpenter.
Smith was taunted by the home stands and, when they chanted “Marcus, Marcus, give us a wave” he responded, much to the delight of the Sale fans.
There was still time for the replacement hooker Nathan Jibulu to crash over from close range amid scenes of mounting euphoria. But for Quins the problems continue to mount.
