Sale Sharks secured Shark on Shark bragging rights and a place in the last 16 of the Investec Champions Cup thanks to a bonus point win over their Durban namesakes.
In front of almost 7500 hardy Sharks fans and with the mercury dropping to freezing, Alex Sanderson’s side scored four tries to secure the five points needed to guarantee qualification.
Player of the match Tom O’Flaherty capped a brilliant performance with two tries while Bevan Rodd and Rekeiti Ma’asi-White scored the other two.
It was the visitors who were on the scoreboard first through a Siya Masuku penalty inside ten minutes but THE Sharks hit back quickly when fast hands from George Ford put Rekeiti Ma’asi-White through under the posts.
Ford converted and despite some periods pressure on the Sale line from the visitors, the score remained 7-3 at the break.
Sale came out in the second half with more urgency and intent to keep the ball in hand and they were rewarded on 50 minutes when a trick play and a short lineout led to a maul try for Bevan Rodd. Ford converted again to give Sale a 14-3 lead.
That became 19-3 five minutes later. Sale full-back Joe Carpenter made the initial break and got an offload away despite being held up on the line. It fell to Obi Ene who exchanged passes with Nathan Jibulu before flinging it wide for O’Flaherty to cross in the corner for his first. Ford missed the extras.
Just five minutes later the visitors got their only try of the evening to give their travelling supporters something to cheer on a freezing cold Salford evening.
Star back-rower Manu Tshituka picked up from the back of a ruck and broke through a hole in the Sale defence, before swerving the last defender and running it under the posts. The conversion brought it back to 19-10 and, for two minutes at least, it seemed like the crowd were in for a big finish.
But Sale quickly put the game to bed on 62 minutes when Carpenter made another break and fed O’Flaherty, who slalomed his way through the cover to dive over in front of an ecstatic South Stand.
Ford converted to make it 26-10 and send his side into the last 16.
