Aviva Premiership: Sale score late on to see off Harlequins

Sale Sharks secured their first Aviva Premiership win at the Twickenham Stoop in over six years as Danny Cipriani helped them triumph 16-12 at Harlequins.

Fly-half Cipriani - left out of England's squad for the autumn internationals - kicked 11 points, including converting captain Dan Braid's late try that was to prove crucial in the final reckoning.

Nick Evans kicked all four of his penalty attempts for the hosts, though they failed to breach Sale's defence in the absence of some of their international stars.

They did at least have Danny Care back, the scrum-half able to sit on the bench after being released back to his club by England.

But while Quins were still shorthanded, a settled Sale squad, with the exception of absent centre Johnny Leota, who is on duty with Samoa for Saturday's Test against England, were able to prosper.

Cipriani gave the Sharks an early lead when he fired over a penalty in the second minute after scrum-half Will Cliff made a break through the home defence.

Kicking battle

Evans levelled matters up soon after when Quins won a penalty from a scrum, in the process setting the tone for a battle between the two fly-halves. The Harlequins pack squeezed another penalty out of the Sharks pack in the 16th minute, with their New Zealand No 10 making no mistake to give his side the lead for the first time in the contest.

Cipriani replied to level the scores but missed a long-range attempt on the stroke of half time, his effort falling just short to leave the teams locked at 6-6.

Care entered the fray to a huge reception in the 51st minute, just in time to watch on as Evans made it 9-6 as the Sale pack were penalised for pulling down a maul.

The ding-dong battle continued though, as Luke Wallace was pinged for holding on and Cipriani duly stepped up to square up matters again.

Another Evans penalty made it 12-9 to the capital club, but Sale made the match-winning breakthrough in the 69th minute when skipper Braid powered over from close range. Replacement Andy Forsyth's break had sparked the visitors into life and with Cipriani tagging on the extras, the Sharks had a four-point cushion to defend. 

Quins then threw everything at them in the final 10 minutes but Steve Diamond's troops held out for a hard-fought win at a venue where they had not tasted league success since May 2008.