SA duo help Sale secure home play-off

PREMIERSHIP SATURDAY WRAP: Sale secured a home semifinal in the English Premiership play-offs after a hard-fought 25-22 win at Gloucester on Saturday.

They are now set to face champions Leicester in the last four, with Sale bidding for a second Premiership title 17 years after they were crowned champions.

Sale had to overcome yellow cards for England duo Tom Curry and Manu Tuilagi before George Ford’s 68th-minute penalty and a breakaway try by Sam James eventually secured victory at Kingsholm.

The visitors scored tries through South Africans Jean-Luc du Preez and Jono Ross before substitute James went over, with England veteran Ford adding two penalties and two conversions.

Gloucester captain Lewis Ludlow crossed for the hosts, with Test wings Louis Rees-Zammit and Jonny May adding further tries.

Scotland’s Adam Hastings, in his first match since suffering a shoulder injury on Christmas Eve, landed two conversions and a penalty but all second-bottom Gloucester were left with at full-time was a losing bonus point.

Elsewhere, Exeter warmed up for their Champions Cup semifinal against holders La Rochelle next weekend with a last-gasp 22-21 win over Bristol sealed by a Joe Simmonds penalty.

The Chiefs cannot qualify for a top-four finish but the win allowed several players, who will be leaving Exeter at the end of the season, to enjoy one last home victory at Sandy Park.

Stuart Hogg, Dave Ewers, Ian Whitten and Joe and Sam Simmonds all started their last home matches for the Chiefs, who won despite being reduced to 14 men when Dafydd Jenkins was sent off in the first half for a high tackle on Max Lahiff.

Tries from Whitten, Ewers and Josh Iosefa-Scott kept Exeter in contention before Simmonds kicked the winning points.

Bristol scored tries through George Kloska, Joe Jenkins and Yann Thomas, all converted by Callum Sheedy.

“I am delighted for the players because we had a number running out at Sandy Park for their last time as an Exeter player,” said Chiefs boss Rob Baxter.

Harlequins coach Tabai Watson was left frustrated by his side’s defence following a 35-45 defeat by Bath at Twickenham.

Northampton’s win on Friday had ended Quins’ hopes of a semi-final berth but Matson was still disappointed by the way his side conceded six tries.

“I don’t want to take anything away from them [Bath],” he said.

“They scored six tries, that’s probably the big lesson for us, six tries and 45 points in your home game is a bit of a catastrophe.”

Bath have now won three matches in a row, a late-season rally that has revived their bid for a place in next season’s Champions Cup.

The scores and scorers:

Gloucester 22-25 Sale

The scorers:

For Gloucester:
Tries: Ludlow, Rees-Zammit, May
Cons: Hastings 2
Pen: Hastings

For Sale:
Tries: Du Preez, Ross, James
Cons: Ford 2
Pens: Ford 2

Yellow cards: Tom Curry (Sale, 38); Manu Tuilagi (Sale, 46′)

Teams:

Gloucester: 15 Santi Carreras, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Jonny May, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Lewis Ludlow (captain), 6 Jack Clement, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Freddie Clarke, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 2 George McGuigan, 1 Mayco Vivas.
Replacements: 16 Seb Blake, 17 Harry Elrington, 18 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 19 Cam Jordan, 20 Freddie Thomas, 21 Charlie Chapman, 22 Billy Twelvetrees, 23 Alex Hearle.

Sale: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Rob du Preez, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 George Ford, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Jono Ross, 7 Ben Curry (captain), 6 Tom Curry, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Jean-Luc du Preez, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Simon McIntyre.
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Sam Dugdale, 21 Raffi Quirke, 22 Sam James, 23 Arron Reed.

Referee: Tom Foley
Assistant referees: Hamish Smales, Wayne Falla
TMO: Dean Richards

Exeter 22-21 Bristol

The scorers:

For Exeter Chiefs:
Tries: Whitten, Ewers, Iosefa-Scott
Cons: J Simmonds 2
Pen: J Simmonds

For Bristol:
Tries: Kloska, Jenkins, Y Thomas
Cons: Sheedy 3

Red card: Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter, 17′)

Teams:

Exeter: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tom Wyatt, 13 Henry Slade (captain), 12 Ian Whitten, 11 Olly Woodburn, 10 Joe Simmonds, 9 Will Becconsall, 8 Sam Simmonds, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Dafydd Jenkins, 4 Jack Dunne, 3 Marcus Street, 2 Dan Frost, 1 Nika Abuladze.
Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 19 Aidon Davis, 20 Christ Tshiunza, 21 Stu Townsend, 22 Harvey Skinner, 23 Sean O’Brien.

Bristol: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Siva Naulago, 13 Joe Jenkins, 12 James Williams, 11 Gabriel Ibitoye, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Harry Randall (co-captain), 8 Fitz Harding, 7 Sam Jeffries, 6 Steven Luatua (co-captain), 5 Chris Vui, 4 Joe Batley, 3 Max Lahiff, 2 Will Capon, 1 Yann Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Fred Davies, 17 Jake Woolmore, 18 George Kloska, 19 Charlie Rice, 20 Dan Thomas, 21 Andy Uren, 22 Sam Bedlow, 23 Ioan Lloyd.

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys
Assistant referees: Anthony Woodthorpe, Jonathan Healy
TMO: David Rose

Harlequins 35-45 Bath

The scorers:

For Harlequins:
Tries: Murley, Wallace, Smith, Gjaltema, Dombrandt
Cons: Smith 5

For Bath:
Tries: Dunn, Van Velze, Lawrence, Annett, Cokanasiga, Ojomoh
Cons: Spencer 5, Francis
Pen: Spencer

Yellow cards: Andre Esterhuizen (Harlequins, 29′); Cadan Murley (Harlequins, 31′)

Teams:

Harlequins: 15 Josh Bassett, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Danny Care, 8 Alex Dombrandt (captain), 7 Will Evans, 6 Luke Wallace, 5 Irne Herbst, 4 Dino Lamb, 3 Will Collier, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Sam Riley, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 George Hammond, 20 Jack Kenningham, 21 Lewis Gjaltema, 22 Luke Northmore, 23 Nick David.

Bath: 15 Matt Gallagher, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Max Ojomoh, 11 Ruaridh McConnochie, 10 Orlando Bailey, 9 Ben Spencer (captain), 8 Miles Reid, 7 Chris Cloete, 6 Ted Hill, 5 GJ van Velze, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano.
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 D’Arcy Rae, 19 Will Spencer, 20 Richard de Carpentier, 21 Max Green, 22 Piers Francis, 23 Josh Bayliss.

Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: Matthew Carley, Sara Cox
TMO: Rowan Kitt