Matchday Live

Sale took a huge step towards the play offs with a bullish 41-17 victory over top four rivals Bristol.

It was a game beset by nerves, with both teams needing a win to keep their play-off hopes in their own hands, but Sale overcame a turgid first quarter to punish their visitors.

Aside from Dan du Preez’s opener and Quirke’s deal sealer, Sale relied on their muscle up front to punish Bristol in a ruthless middle 40, tries coming from Tadhg McElroy, Jonny Hill, and Rekeiti Ma’asi-White. Bristol did salvage a bonus point to soften the deficit in the last five minutes, but Sale’s fate is in their own hands.

They now sit in third place, on 54 points and two clear of Bristol with Leicester and Saracens still to play, projecting them a semi-final against the former should they beat an out of form Exeter away in two weeks.

The magnitude of the fixture was abundantly apparent in a disjointed first 20, with set piece aplenty despite the dry conditions. With just a Ford penalty separating the sides after 23 minutes, it required a player to take the game by the scruff of the neck, and Asher Opoku-Fordjour was that man.

The dynamic tighthead prop slipped off a couple of tackles before throwing a flamboyant offload to put Sharks on the front foot, allowing Ford and du Preez to spread the ball wide to give Ben Curry the chance to send Dan du Preez over.

Bristol replied quickly through Harry Randall on their first meaningful attack, but a closely followed Ford penalty maintained an eight point gap.

That would become 15 six minutes later, with Opoku-Fordjour once again quickening up ball with a nimble pick and go and offload, the likes of Hill and Jean-Luc du Preez following suit to put McElroy within range for a pick and go score.

In contrast to the first quarter, the third saw both attacks function closer to full capacity, with Bristol sandwiching a Jonny Hill close range effort with well finished scores from Viliame Mata and Siva Naulago putting the scores at 27-17 to the hosts, 20 still to play.

It setup a tense last quarter, the next score crucial. It was gratefully received, then, by the south stand when one of the season’s revelations, Ma’asi-White, crashed over from a well-worked lineout move.

That momentum was reinforced by two moments of defensive class to put the game to bed. Twice Bristol looked to chip over the Sale defence, and twice it was read, the first by Ben Curry to allow Joe Carpenter to hit a 50/22, and the second by Ford to feed Quirke for his typically dainty run and score.