Chabal snatches late winner

Second home defeat of season for Tigers

By Simon Dilger   Last updated: 23rd February 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Chabal snatches late winner

Chabal: Late try

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Leicester Tigers suffered a second consecutive defeat after Sebastien Chabal crashed over in the dying seconds to clinch victory for Sale.

With international duty forcing changes to both sides, Leicester, looked like they might sneak a win when, trailing 9-6, Jordan Crane was driven over with nine minutes to go.

But it was Chabal who had the final word, crossing in the right hand corner in the 79th minute to give his side a 14-11 win and complete a Guinness Premiership double over the Tigers.

It was the boot of Andy Goode that opened the scoring, putting Leicester ahead after five minutes but a quick reply from Luke McAlister's cancelled out the three points.

Goode missed the opportunity to re-take the lead soon after but in the 25th minute he was on target to put Leicester back in front at 6-3.

Collision

Moments later an off-the-ball collision between Chabal and Deacon, that surprisingly did not result in any yellow cards, gave Sale the chance to level again.

McAlister belted over from 50 metres to make it 6-6 at the half hour mark.

Frank Murphy saw his 33rd minute try disallowed by Referee Sean Davey and another 50-metre effort from McAlister gave Sale the lead with the last kick of the half.

Sale began to exert some pressure in the second half following a Leicester threat soon after the restart which ended with Marcos Ayerza knocking on 15 metres short of the line.

McAlister should have extended the visitor's lead on 56 minutes but instead watched his penalty drift wide.

Long-range kick

Goode's 55-metre attempt on 62 minutes also failed to find the posts but Leicester looked certain to score when Sililo Martens had his clearance charged down.

The scrum-half however, recovered to reclaim the ball on his own try line and deny the home side their try.

Crane's score put Leicester ahead but Goode's missed conversion and a ruled out drop goal moments later kept the score to 11-9.

It was left to Chabal to snatch the glory and inflict a second home defeat of the season on the Tigers

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