Leicester outplay Sale to secure play-off spot

MATCH REPORT: Leicester secured a place in the PREM play-offs with an emphatic 47-33 bonus-point victory at Sale that left them a point behind second-placed Bath.

Geoff Parling’s Tigers are shaping up as major title contenders and had too much quality for a Sharks side whose top-four hopes have long since ended.

Leicester captain Ollie Chessum opened the scoring but England teammate Tom Roebuck replied for Sale before Jamie Blamire added a second try for the visitors.

Tigers No.8 Joaquin Moro and Sale flanker Jacques Vermeulen traded tries and Joe Heyes added a fourth for the visitors who went in at half-time with a 28-12 advantage.

The try-fest continued after the break as Leicester ran in further scores from Will Wand, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Archie van der Flier before Sale rallied in the final quarter.

They touched down through captain Ernst van Rhyn, Sam Dugdale and Arron Reed to secure a losing bonus point but Leicester departed with their first win at Sale since 2018.

Alex Sanderson’s hosts were boosted by the return of England back rower Tom Curry and scrumhalf Raffi Quirke for their penultimate home game of the season.

Leicester’s starting line-up was unchanged from the team that beat Northampton last weekend.

Heyes made his 100th start for the club while Hamish Watson and Olly Cracknell both returned to the bench.

It took Leicester less than two minutes to open the scoring as flanker Hanro Liebenberg broke down the left flank and found Hassell-Collins who in turn sent Chessum racing over the line.

Former Sale flyhalf James O’Connor added the conversion but Sale hit back in the ninth minute when Roebuck dived over from close range.

George Ford could not convert and Leicester, with their big pack driving them forward, scored twice more as the first half unfolded.

The first of those came in the 14th minute when Blamire was driven over the line from close range and eight minutes later they struck again with another forward-based try, this time Moro touching down from close range.

Orlando Bailey, who replaced the injured O’Connor early on, converted both tries to put Leicester 21-5 ahead.

But Sale replied on the half-hour when Quirke’s quick penalty tap created the space for Vermeulen to thunder his way over the line from close range and Ford added the conversion.

Heyes touched down from close range and Bailey converted to make it 28-12 at the break.

Wand then dived for their fifth, Hassell-Collins scored in the left corner from Adam Radwan’s long pass and Van der Flier added their seventh from close range.

Yet Sale refused to throw in the towel and scored close-range efforts through Van Rhyn, Dugdale and Reed to grab a bonus point on a day when they were largely outclassed.

The scorers:

For Sale:
Tries: Roebuck, Vermuelen, Van Rhyn, Dugdale, Reed
Cons: Ford 4

For Leicester:
Tries: Chessum, Blamire, Moro, Heyes, Wand, Hassell-Collins, Van der Flier
Cons: O’Connor, Bailey 5

Sale: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Luke James, 12 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 George Ford, 9 Raffi Quirke, 8 Tom Curry, 7 Sam Dugdale, 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 5 Ben Bamber, 4 Ernst van Rhyn (captain), 3 James Harper, 2 Alfie Longstaff, 1 Asher Opoku-Fordjour.
Replacements: 16 Wills Austin, 17 Ralph McEachran, 18 Patreece Bell, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Seb Kelly, 21 Gus Warr, 22 Ollie Davies, 23 Arron Reed.

Leicester: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Will Wand, 12 Orlando Bailey, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 James O’Connor, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Joaquin Moro, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 5 Ollie Chessum (captain), 4 George Martin, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Nicky Smith.
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 Archie van der Flier, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Cameron Henderson, 20 Olly Cracknell, 21 Hamish Watson, 22 Tom Whiteley, 23 Solomone Kata.

Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant referees: Ian Tempest & Neil Chivers
TMO: Stuart Terheege