Sale claim important win over fellow Premiershup play-off contenders Saracens
Last Updated: 22/02/15 12:40pm
Sale Sharks pulled off a vital 14-10 win over Saracens in the Aviva Premiership on Saturday.
Mark McCall's side were outsmarted in the loose, leading to Sale's first win over Saracens of the season, at the fourth time of asking.
The win takes the Sharks into fourth place, just one point behind third-place Saracens, with only an Exeter Chiefs win able to push them out of the play-off positions by the end of the weekend.
Tries from Sam Tuitupou and second rower Jonathan Mills were both converted by Danny Cipriani, who this week committed himself to the Sharks cause by extending his contract.
Saracens' Alex Goode added a first-half penalty but the men in black were forced to wait until the 79th minute before registering a try that gave them a losing bonus point. Reserve Richard Barrington was the one to cross the whitewash with Goode’s conversion completing the scoring for the day.
Indiscretion
Saracens need look no further than their own discipline for the reasons behind the loss. Namibian Flanker Jacques Burger went into a tackle with no arms, earning the loose forward ten minutes in the bin. But Burger’s indiscretion was just one of many infringements committed by the visiting side as they kept themselves on the wrong side of the referee's whistle and therefore the game.
England scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth was another player to see yellow, when he was temporarily removed from the pitch for a high tackle on his opposite number Chris Cusiter, and it was while he was off the pitch that Mills crossed for his try.
Goode opened the scoring to give Saracens the lead in the 17th minute but Tuitupou’s score four minutes later was matched on the stroke of half-time by Mills.
The second half remained scoreless before Barrington clawed a try back for the visiting team, and with Saracens just one point ahead of Sale in the overall Aviva Premiership standings, a point that may well prove vital at the end of the season.
