Match Centre: Sale Sharks 28-20 Exeter Chiefs

Sale Sharks 28-20 Exeter Chiefs, Salford City Stadium

Sale Sharks managed to hold off Exeter Chiefs as they sealed a thrilling 28-20 victory in the fourth round of the Gallagher Premiership at Salford City Stadium on Saturday.

This is third win for Sale Sharks in as many games as they are at second place in the table while Exeter slipped down to third after losing their first game from four matches.

After the first opening 10 minutes went without a point, Exeter were the first to open the account as Luke Cowan-Dickie burrowed down the way in the corner and Henry Slade kicked the conversion to make it 0-7. The Chiefs lost Dafydd Jenkins and Stu Townsend to injuries in the opening half as Rob du Preez slotted a penalty goal to reduce the home side's deficit.

The Chiefs had a try from Rory O'Loughlin disallowed due to a forward pass but a penalty goal from Slade in the half-hour mark stretched their lead to 3-10.

With the break approaching, Sale Sharks went on to level the scores with Ben Curry dotting down at the back of a five-metre line out and du Preez made no mistake with the conversion.

As the teams were unseparated in the opening half, Sale were the quickest to get off the block after the break as Akker van der Merwe splintered off the tail of the maul to score and du Preez kicked the conversion to make it 17-10 but shortly Exeter responded back with Skinner and Olly Woodburn combined to send Sam Maunder over the line and Slade's conversion made it 17-17.

A penalty kick from du Preez in the 61st minute helped the home side to a three-point lead and they stretched it further with Joe Carpenter on his Premiership debut was able to touch down after creating a space. The conversion though went wide as the score remained at 25-17.

With eight minutes left in the game, Slade landed a second successful penalty to pull the visitors back to within strike range but du Preez with a three-pointer of his own restored the eight point lead for the hosts. With the clock ticking, Slade had one final chance with a penalty goal that went wide as Sale edged away with a thrilling win.

Team line up:

Sale: Carpenter; Roebuck, James, Tuilagi, O'Flaherty; R du Preez, Warr; McIntyre, van der Merwe, Oosthuizen, Wiese, J Hill, T Curry, B Curry (capt), D du Preez

Reserves: Ashman, Rodd, Harper, Ross, JL du Preez, Simpson, S Hill, Reed

Exeter: Hogg; O'Loughlin, Slade, Whitten, Woodburn; Skinner, Townsend; Hepburn, Cowan-Dickie (capt), Williams, Dunne, Jenkins, Kirsten, Vermeulen, S Simmonds

Reserves: Yeandle, Iosefa-Scott, Schickerling, Van Heerden, Capstick, S Maunder, J Simmonds, Kata