NOT since mercurial Welsh wizard Paul Turner have Sale Sharks had a fly-half who can ''strut his stuff'' like Charlie Hodgson, the new darling of the Heywood Road faithful.

A capacity crowd watched the youngster outgun Jonny Wilkinson in front of England manager Clive Woodward as the Sharks shot down Newcastle Falcons 37-11 to stay top of the Zurich Premiership with maximum points.

Hodgson, the England Under-21 fly-half who should have been given his senior chance on the summer tour to North America, was in scintillating form. He not only kicked goals and engineered a string of openings but also scored the crucial opening try.

I was involved in a couple of phases of play before the ball came back out to me,'' he said.

''Martin Shaw was unmarked and said I should have given him the ball but I saw a hole in the defence and went for it.

''I was pleased with my performance and it was good that Clive was watching. When they watched me last season we were usually under the cosh and defending so it was nice to be able to show them what I could do in attack.

Challenge

''Jonny is established as England's number one but, hopefully, I will move up the pecking order.

''The hard work of the forwards has made life so much better. When I looked up last season I would see the opposition lined up waiting for us but now I have more options because we have forward runners available.

''In some respects, last season's struggles won't have done me any harm because I have now experienced both ends of the spectrum, which I wouldn't have done if I had stepped straight into a very successful side and been given an armchair ride.

''Andy Titterrell also played well at hooker yesterday. We were both in the Jets last season but we were given our chance and there are other good young players pushing hard for a senior place.''

After soaking up early pressure from the side that had toppled champions Leicester six days earlier, the Sharks took control through superb defence and attacking flair that brought five tries and a second bonus point.

In addition to Hodgson's try, the others came from a determined Steve Hanley, Jason Robinson, Pete Anglesea and replacement prop Adam Black.

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