Tigers get frostbite at Sale

By Ben Blackmore  

Tigers get frostbite at Sale

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Guinness Premiership, Edgeley Park, Friday November 18, KO 20.00

Sale Sharks continued their amazing start to the Guinness Premiership campaign with an impressive 24-16 victory over Leicester Tigers.

The Sharks stormed into a 15-point lead before the visitors rallied towards the end, and the result moves Philippe Saint-Andre's men eight points clear of the Tigers.

Tries from Magnus Lund and Mark Taylor set the hosts on the way to their seventh win of the season, and they even stopped their counterparts claiming a bonus point despite a late try from Matt Cornwell.

The visitors got off on the worst possible footing, as Tom Croft saw yellow after only five minutes for punching Dean Schofield.

The incident gave Sale the initiative and they quickly moved nine points ahead through the accurate boot of Daniel Larrachea.

The Tigers' line-out was not helping matters, as George Chuter struggled to find his men, and they were thankful for the boot of Ross Broadfoot - who kept them in the contest with two penalties.

However, Taylor then made his mark on a game that he almost did not feature in due to international commitments, scoring the first try of the contest.

Oriol Ripol made the break, before Larrachea found the Welshman out wide for a simple coast in at the corner.

Broadfoot's boot ensured that Leicester were within a try of their opponents at the break, but that was to last only a minute as the Sharks caught Pat Howard's men cold at the start of the second period.

Epi Taione was the man to lead Sale onto the front foot from the off, dashing through the Tigers rearguard before swiftly moving the ball out to Lund via Ripol, and the back row touched down for 21-9.

Leicester threw on Andy Goode in an attempt to get themselves back into the contest, and a chance opened up when Nathan Bonner-Evans was sin-binned for slowing the ball down as the Tigers attacked.

However, the much-needed try came far too late, with Cornwell finally going over in injury time to give the scoreline a degree of respectability for the visitors.

Sale Sharks: (16) 24
Tries: Taylor, Lund
Cons: Courrent
Pens: Courrent 4

Leicester Tigers: (9) 16
Tries: Cornwell
Cons: Goode
Pens: Broadfoot 3