Bristol surprise Sale

The hosts dominated early possession at the AJ Bell Stadium, and after Ryan Bevington was sent to the sin bin following successive penalties at the scrum, Sale capitalised on their extra man to open the scoring with a penalty try, James Mitchell adding the extras from the tee.

They extended their advantage just after the 20-minute mark when Denny Solomona latched onto Mike Haley's kick to cross in the corner, only for Mitchell's conversion to hit the woodwork.

Bristol had the opportunity to immediately hit back when Jason Woodward opted for the posts after the Sharks were penalised for not rolling away at the tackle, but his effort fell short of the target.

It was a missed chance they came to rue as Sale further strengthened their lead on 32 minutes, when Mitchell scored from the tee after his side were awarded a penalty in front of the posts.

But the visitors were soon on the scoreboard thanks to the boot of Woodward after Cameron Neild gave away a penalty at the ruck.

And they narrowed the gap further when Tom Varndell crossed the whitewash to equalise Mark Cueto's all-time Premiership record of 90 tries, before Woodward added the conversion to ensure a 15-10 scoreline at half-time.

Once again, it was Sale who came out of the dressing room with all guns blazing, but it was Varndell who came closest to getting the first score of the half only for the hosts to clear the danger.

But they earned more breathing space when Mitchell extended their lead to eight points from the tee, after Will Hurrell was penalised for going off his feet.

Bristol saw a second player sent to the sin bin when Dan Tuohy was shown yellow for hauling down the maul, and moments later, Sale made the most of their advantage when Johnny Leota dotted down after joining the drive for the line.

But their West Country opposition were immediately back in the game through Rhodri Williams, who crossed over after a fine counter-attack from Varndell and Woodward, the latter adding the conversion.

Sale were reduced to 14 men when Rob Webber was shown a yellow card, and they were made to pay when Crumpton's converted try gave the visitors the lead with just eight minutes left on the clock.

Woodward had an opportunity to make his side's slender lead more comfortable, but skewed two efforts from the tee in the dying stages of the game as Bristol held on for an historic victory.

The scorers:

For Sale:

Tries: Solomona, Leota, Penalty Try

Con: Mitchell

Pens: Mitchell 2

For Bristol:

Tries: Varndell, Williams, Crumpton

Cons: Woodward 3

Pen: Woodward

Teams:

Sale Sharks: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Josh Charnley, 10 Sam James, 9 James Mitchell, 8 Josh Beaumont (captain), 7 Magnus Lund, 6 Cameron Neild, 5 Andrei Ostrikov, 4 Jonathan Mills, 3 Halani Aulika, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Ross Harrison

Replacements: 16 Neil Briggs, 17 James Flynn, 18 Kieran Longbottom, 19 Ben Curry, 20 TJ Ioane, 21 Mike Phillips, 22 AJ MacGinty, 23 Byron McGuigan

Bristol: 15 Jason Woodward, 14 Jack Wallace, 13 Thretton Palamo 12 Will Hurrell, 11 Tom Varndell, 10 Billy Searle, 9 Will Cliff, 

8 Mitch Eadie, 7 Olly Robinson (captain), 6 Nick Fenton-Wells, 5 Ben Glynn, 4 Dan Tuohy, 3 Gaston Cortes, 2 Rob Hawkins, 1 Ryan Bevington

Replacements: 16 Max Crumpton, 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 19 James Phillips, 20 Mark Sorenson, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Adrian Jarvis, 23 Luke Arscott.

Referee: Ian Tempest

Assistant Referees: Wayne Falla, Andrew Jackson

TMO: Keith Lewis

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