Danny Cipriani shows England credentials in Sale win over Wasps

Danny Cipriani fired a timely reminder to England of his match-winning qualities as he kicked all fifteen of Sale's points in their victory over Wasps.

Controversially overlooked for the World Cup squad in the summer, the fly-half did his hopes of a Six Nations call-up from new head coach Eddie Jones no harm as he slotted over four penalties and a drop goal to earn Sale a 15-9 victory.

Wasps number 10 Jimmy Gopperth kicked two penalties in response with Elliot Daly adding a drop goal but the visitors, hunting a fourth successive away win, came up short against a Cipriani-inspired Sale who secured their thrid Premiership win of the season.

It earned Sale their first league win in two months and was just the tonic their director of rugby Steve Diamond was looking for going into 2016 as the Sharks leapfrogged Wasps into seventh place in the table.

Amidst a constant drizzle at the AJ Bell Stadium which made handling treacherous, an early penalty from Cipriani gave the Sale the ideal start as they looked to usher in the new year in winning style.

And it was Sale who enjoyed much the better of the early exchanges, the Sharks dominating both territory and possession.

They twice came close to earning a reward for their bright start with winger Will Addison choosing to ignore an overlap despite Sale having both Tom Arscott and Mike Haley clear outside, with the opportunity eventually being lost.

Moments later Haley almost went over himself after a thrilling break only to be stopped in his tracks by a superb covering tackle from former Sale stalwart Rob Miller.

However, the visitors weathered the early storm and should have scored themselves on the half hour after a blistering break from centre Daly capitalised on a missed Sam Tuitupou tackle.

The Wasps centre then found Miller with the try-line gaping but as the full-back dived in to touch down he somehow spilled the ball over the whitewash, referee Luke Pearce ruling out the effort after consulting with TMO Trevor Fisher.

Wasps finally got on the scoreboard two minutes later through a Gopperth penaltty and with time almost up in the first half, Dai Young's side struck again thanks to some quick thinking from Daly who slotted a deft drop goal to give the visitors a narrow 6-3 lead at half-time.

With the tackling ferocious and both sides excelling at the breakdown, point-scoring chances were at even more of a premium in the second half.

Cipriani made the most of his opportunity in the 56th minute however, drilling over a penalty to draw the Sharks level.

And the fly-half repeated the feat nine minutes later with an excellent kick from wide on the left to put Sale back into the lead to the delight of the Sharks' biggest crowd of the season.

But Wasps refused to buckle and a fine up and under from Gopperth opened up a break for another ex-Shark Kearnan Myall and that led to a Sale infringement which allowed Gopperth to level the scores again only 10 minutes from time.

The drama did not finish there, though, as Sale pressed again and they thought they had scored a try through replacement scrum-half Peter Stringer after he made a close-range lunge for the line.

Referee Pearce disallowed that effort after consulting the TMO, but he did award Sale a penalty for an earlier infringement and Cipriani's nerve stood up to the the test as he booted over his fourth penalty.

And as a crowd of 7,619 roared Sale on, Cipriani clinically ensured Sale collected all four points as he cooly fired over a drop goal in front of the posts.