Sale keep play-off hopes alive
FRIDAY WRAP: Sale Sharks kept their Premiership play-off hopes alive with a 31-22 bonus-point victory over Leicester Tigers on Friday.
Gus Warr, Tommy Taylor, and Sam James helped put Sale ahead at half-time by 21-15.
Wing Tom O’Flaherty added a fourth try after the break for the bonus point.
Tigers kept within reach with tries from Dan Cole and Matt Scott and George Martin scored a third try after the break.
*Bath is now level with Northampton Saints on the Premiership after a comfortable 28-17 bonus-point win over Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park.
Bath secured the victory in the first half, with Thomas du Toit, Ben Spencer, Joe Cokanasiga and Matt Gallagher all adding to the spoils.
Newcastle remain winless in the league since March 2023 as they stay at the bottom of the table.
Bath’s discipline gave Newcastle hope of a comeback as the latter stages were littered with penalties, but they managed to hold on for the win.
All Saturday’s scores and scorers:
Sale 31-22 Leicester Tigers
Scorers:
For Sale Sharks:
Tries: Warr, Taylor, S James, O’Flaherty
Cons: Ford 4
Pens: Ford
For Leicester Tigers:
Tries: Cole, Scott, Martin
Cons: Pollard, Shillcock
Pens: Shillcock
Sale Sharks: 15 Sam James, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Rob du Preez, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 George Ford, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Jean-Luc du Preez, 7 Sam Dugdale, 6 Ben Curry (captain), 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 James Harper, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Bevan Rodd
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Si McIntyre, 18 WillGriff John, 19 Ben Bamber, 20 Ernst van Rhyn, 21 Raffi Quirke, 22 Rekeiti Ma’asi White, 23 Arron Reed
Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Jamie Shillcock, 13 Matt Scott, 12 Dan Kelly, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg (captain), 5 Harry Wells, 4 George Martin, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Charlie Clare, 1 Francois van Wyk
Replacements: 16 Nic Dolly, 17 James Whitcombe, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Finn Carnduff, 20 Olly Cracknell, 21 Tom Whiteley, 22 Phil Cokanasiga, 23 Solomone Kata
Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant Referees: Jack Makepeace, Jamie Leahy
TMO: Ian Tempest
Newcastle Falcons 17-28 Bath
Scorers:
For Newcastle:
Tries: Blamire 2, Stuart
Cons: Connon
For Bath:
Tries: Du Toit, Spencer, Cokanasiga, Gallagher
Cons: Russell 4
Teams:
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Louis Brown, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Cameron Hutchison, 11 Ben Redshaw, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart, 8 Callum Chick (captain), 7 Guy Pepper, 6 Sam Cross, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 4 Tim Cardall, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Adam Brocklebank
Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Mark Dormer, 18 Richard Palframan, 19 John Hawkins, 20 Freddie Lockwood, 21 James Elliott, 22 Rory Jennings, 23 Oli Spencer
Bath: 15 Matt Gallagher, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Cameron Redpath, 11 Will Muir, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben Spencer (captain), 8 Alfie Barbeary, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Quinn Roux, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Jacques du Plessis, 20 Miles Reid, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Josh Bayliss
Referee: Tom Foley
Assistant Referees: Sara Cox, Hamish Smales
TMO: Dean Richards
