Your Sharks fell agonisingly short on Saturday at Mattioli Woods Welford Rd as Leicester Tigers edged a ten-try thriller by a single point.
Alex Sanderson’s side trailed by 15 points in the second half but a polished performance from Sharks fly-half George Ford and a hat-trick from full-back Luke James led a spirited fightback to bring their side to within a point.
Despite the defeat, Sharks took two bonus points back to Manchester.
It was Tigers who seized the early initiative in front of a packed house and they struck first inside the first ten minutes. After a series of forward drives, ball was flung wide for winger Adam Radwan to touch down in the corner. Former Shark James O’Connor pulled the conversion wide but the fly-half was on target with a penalty minutes later to extend the lead to eight.
Handling errors were costing the Sharks dearly and after missing a series of opportunities in the Tigers 22, the home side extended their lead just after the half hour mark.
Once again it was Radwan who took a pass from Freddie Steward and cut inside to score. O’Connor slotted the extras to take the lead to 15, but that last for just two minutes as Sharks struck back.
After reclaiming the restart, Rod du Preez sent the ball wide to the left for Tom O’Flaherty to finish in the corner. Ford slotted the conversion and the lead was back to just eight.
But the reprieve was only short-lived as with half-time looming, Leicester found the line again. Following a break by Olly Cracknell, scrum-half Tom Whiteley spotted a gap in the Sale defence and kept his hands free to offload to Henderson to secure a healthy 15-point lead at the break.
The second half couldn’t have been more different to the first as, led by England fly-half Ford, Sharks roared back and their early dominance was rewarded by the first of James’s three tries.
But once again, Tigers bit straight back and secured the bonus point when Hanro Liebenberg’s slip pass found Emeka Ilione, who powered his way through a gap to dive over next to the posts.
Sharks hit back again and in an almost carbon copy of his first try, James was fed by Ford to secure his brace. Ford converted again and the score was 29-21.
The game was almost basketball-like by now with both sides taking it in turns to attack. And true to the alternate scoring pattern it was Leicester who scored next as Whiteley sniped over the line after a series of pick and go’s.
It was Sharks turn to score next as Tom Roebuck dived over after being fed by replacement Raffi Quirke and then with ten minutes to go, the visitors broke the tit-for-tat cycle as a converted Luke James try brought Sale to within a point.
But the winning points proved a step too far and Leicester secured all five points when Bill Searle kicked the ball dead to bring the game to an end.
Leicester: Steward; Radwan, Perese, Kata, Hassell-Collins; O’Connor, Whiteley; Smith, Blamire, Heyes, Henderson, Chessum (c), Liebenberg, Reffell, Cracknell.
Replacements: Clare, Haffar, Hurd, Wells, Ilione, Allan, Searle, Bailey.
Sale: James, Roebuck, du Preez, Ma’asi-White, O’Flaherty; Ford, Warr; Opoku-Fordjour, Cowan-Hickie, Harper, van Rhyn (c), Bamber, Vermuelen, Woodman, Dugdale.
Replacements: Jibulu. Onasanya, Bell, Burrow, du Preez, Quirke, Louw, Reed.
Referee: Karl Dickson.
