Matchday Live

Sale Sharks continued their assault on a Premiership playoff with a 25-7 win over Saracens.

Demonstrating the high stakes of the game, both sides were at each other’s throats throughout but a dominant first half ensured Sale took the spoils. A world class, length of the field try from Arron Reed was the standout moment of the match, but Sale could go on to rue an incorrectly disallowed try from Raffi Quirke in the second that meant they missed out on a coveted bonus point.

The silver lining was that Saracens went without a bonus point themselves, meaning the two sides are separated by four points, with Sale climbing to fourth ahead of the weekend’s rugby.

In a half exclamation marked by one world class try, it was easy to forget a number of other top class scores. The first of those, the tone setter, came via Ma’asi White after just two minutes, with the in-form centre benefitting from two Ford line breaks to open the Sarries defence, before Reed offloaded to set him free.

Ford then got his own reward 15 minutes later with his first try of the season. The fly half cleaned up a dangerous grubber in the backfield, before Joe Carpenter attacked the short side and released Tom Roebuck down the right. The winger showed good pace to breach the Saracens half and, after offloading to Reed, he showed strong agility to pick from the base at speed and offload again for Ford to coast in.

Then came the highlight. Spreading the ball wide on their own try line, Reed attacked from 90m out, turning Nick Tompkins inside out before stepping inside Angus Hall and finally pacing Elliot Daly round the outside in a moment of world class brilliance.

In the only blemish of the half, Angus Hall crossed out wide after poor Sale discipline gifted the visitors some field position.

With a 15 point deficit, that Hall try set up a tense start to the second half, with Saracens dominating territory and possession to no avail. The game found a new lease of life in the 56th minute, though, when Raffi Quirke had a try inexplicably disallowed by an early whistle, the replacement scrum half believed to have knocked it on rather than kneed it forward with the TMO not given a chance to intervene.

Whilst that reinvigoration put Sale in the driver’s seat, with Alex Sanderson’s men looking comfortable in the lead, the bonus point went awry, ensuring their cushion in second is just two points rather than three heading into Saturday.