Sale Sharks outplay Gloucester at Kingsholm with 15-30 bonus-point win

Gloucester Rugby 15-30 Sale Sharks, Kingsholm
Scorecard

Sale Sharks have maintained their momentum in the ongoing Gallagher Premiership season as they registered a 15-30 bonus point victory over Gloucester Rugby at Kingsholm Stadium on Saturday.

This also means Steve Diamond's continue their revival in the Premiership after a disastrous start that saw them win just one game in the first five rounds but now have moved into the top six after sealing their fifth victory from 11 games while Gloucester are positioned third.

Billy Twelvetrees got Gloucester off the mark with an eighth minute penalty goal and shortly Jaco Visagie extended their lead with the opening try of the game that came in the 16th minute. The centre also added the conversion to make it 10-0.

The response from Sale Sharks came at the end of the first quarter when a Willi Heinz's kick to the box was collected by Byron McGuigan, who in turn sent Chris Ashton over the line and by the half-hour mark it was Faf de Klerk's turn to cross over. Robert du Preez kicked both the conversions and also managed a penalty goal as Sale had a 10-17 lead heading into the break.

Sale Sharks started the second half with a setback with de Klerk sin-binned in the 46th minute for a deliberate knock-on but the Cherry and Whites could not capitalise on the advantage as minutes later they were down to 14-men temporarily with Lewis Ludlow yellow-carded for hands in the ruck.

A relieved Sale Sharks extended their lead further with a three-pointer from du Preez and back to back tries from Rob Webber (43') and Denny Solomona (60') made the scoreline 10-30 before a consolation try from Matt Banahan in the 73rd minute reduced the losing margin of Gloucester.

?? That winning feeling ??@SaleSharksRugby ?? make it back-to-back #GallagherPrem wins as they score 4?? tries against @gloucesterrugby at Kingsholm

Match report ??https://t.co/BSVTb7atW4 @gallagheruk_ pic.twitter.com/qv58GZsARD

— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) 29 December 2018