Sale Sharks Women made it three wins in a row for the first time in their history with a comeback win against Loughborough Lightning at the Morson Stadium.
Sale stuttered off the mark in the first half as Lightning made inroads early, Kelter and Ives-Campion both scoring tries in the opening 15 minutes leaving the home side 0-14 down before Rhona Lloyd answered back. The Sharks forwards put in the work a metre short before it was whipped wide to the winger to dive over for her ninth of the season.
The only other points of the half came from the boot of Nelson, who slotted a penalty to take Loughborough into the break 5-17 up.
Sale came out a different side in the second half. Immediate impact from Erica Jarrell-Searcy, capping off breaks from Lloyd and Morwenna Talling to take the momentum early.
Five minutes later Sale scored again. This time Amy Cokayne dived over in the corner as Sharks pulled a lineout play straight from the training ground to level the scores at 17-all.
Loughborough didn’t sit back though, regaining their lead minutes after the Cokayne score. Former Shark Daisy Hibbert-Jones found space out wide to nudge the visitors ahead before another Sale lineout pulled them back into it. Fresh off the bench Katie Childs finishing this time.
With time entering the final 10 the crowd was tense and both teams hunted for the win. Sale found their way through first with Gwen Pyrs. Returning from injury, a huge pick and go got her over the line with Lizzie Duffy adding the conversion to push the home side ahead.
Loughborough thought they had rescued it at the death – Mataitoga collected a cross-field kick for the five points but the conversion slid wide to see Sale hold on to a memorable comeback victory, 31-29.
The team now look ahead to a trip to Leicester next weekend, before returning to the Morson Stadium the following week to host Bristol Bears in the final home game of the season. Sharks fans can secure tickets for the clash here.
