Sale Sharks slipped to a rare home defeat as a determined Exeter Chiefs side overturned a 20-point deficit to win by a point.
Both sides traded early penalties – and each suffered an early yellow card – but Sharks surged into a 16-6 lead thanks to a Luke James try. A penalty and a converted Alex Wills try gave Alex Sanderson’s men a commanding 26-6 lead.
But three late tries and conversions under pressure by Henry Slade saw the visitors come out on top in a thriller under the Friday night lights.
An injury to Asher Opoku-Fordjour in the first minute set the tone for a scrappy opening period which was marred by two yellow cards – one for Sharks flanker Tom Curry and the other for Exeter’s Australian forward Tom Hooper.
Exeter put the first points on the scoreboard with a Slade penalty but Sharks hit back with three points from the boot of George Ford. Sharks went ahead with another Ford penalty but Slade knocked over another kick on 15 minutes to bring the scores level.
It was tit for tat, and Sharks duly followed suit with another penalty from the boot of the England fly-half.
Then on 25 minutes the game came to life with the first try of the evening. From a lineout the ball was shipped into the midfield and into the hands of the excellent Rob du Preez. The Sharks centre delayed his pass before putting Luke James through a hole to dive under the posts. Ford converted and Sharks led 16-6.
The final points of the half went to Sale as Ford slotted another penalty to leave the score 19-6 at the break.
The second half was just six minutes old when Sharks extended their lead. Once again it was Du Preez who provided the killer pass, this time to put Alex Wills over in the corner. Du Preez converted to give Sale a 26-6 lead.
They were to prove the last points that the home side would score as Chiefs – buoyed by a series of injuries to Sharks’ key men – came back into the game in the final 30 mins.
Jack Yeandle was first to dive over as he converted from the back of a powerful maul. Slade slotted the extras to make the score 26-13 with 25 minutes remaining.
Five minutes later the deficit was cut to six as Olly Woodburn flew over under pressure.
And with less than ten minutes left on the clock, Chiefs broke Sharks hearts as replacement prop Scott Sio forced his way over. Slade converted from out wide to give Chiefs a one point lead that they would hold onto with relative ease.
