Beaumont try inspires first Sale win at Welford Road since 2008

A second-half try from captain Josh Beaumont was enough to see Sale Sharks end Leicester Tigers' unbeaten Aviva Premiership home record with a hard fought 10-3 victory at Welford Road – only the Sharks’ second since 2003.

The try, alongside Danny Cipriani's conversion, broke the deadlock of a error-strewn match which had been level at 3-3 apiece since the 32nd minute.

Leicester started the match as one of only three teams - the others being Saracens and Exeter – who have won every single one of their home Premiership fixtures this season, but the Tigers never really found the form which had got them into third place.

If Cipriani had had his kicking boots on Sale, who have now lost only once in their last eight games, would have won by a bigger margin but the fly-half missed five penalties in what was to be a rough afternoon.

Leicester suffered a blow even before the match kicked off with hooker and captain on the day Tom Youngs, recently omitted from the England squad, picking up an injury during the warm-up as his returned from a one-game ban.

He was replaced by Leonardo Ghiraldini, with Harry Thacker moving onto the bench.

Tigers also then lost full-back Tommy Bell to injury after just 23 minutes and the full-back was replaced by Jack Roberts, making only his sixth Premiership appearance.

The teams were tied at 3-3 at half-time, the score summing up a half in which neither side managed to put together a decent passage of play and entertainment was at a premium for the 22,737 crowd.

Sale fly-half Cipriani, also left out of the England squad, missed four penalties out of five in tricky conditions during the first half, although three of them did come at close range.

Leicester's first real attack came in the 30th minute from a line-out on the Sale 22. The move was stopped by a knock-on by Cipriani, who was a touch fortunate to not have been handed a yellow card for a deliberate infringement.

It did, however, give Leicester their first chance to put points on the board, with fly-half Freddie Burns slotting the penalty to cancel out Cipriani's effort in the 11th minute. Burns missed his second attempt five minutes later.

Burns hit a post with a penalty from the left touchline two minutes after the break and then Sale turned defence into attack but wasted a good opportunity when winger Will Addison was unable to keep hold of an errant pass.

Leicester upped the tempo but it was Sale who got the next chance to score, from a 56th-minute penalty, which Cipriani missed from about 30 metres.

Sale however finally broke the deadlock in the 62nd minute after two successive penalties took them to Leicester's 5 metre line. From a line-out and driving maul, Beaumont barged over and Cipriani added the conversion.

Leicester should have scored minutes later after centre Matt Smith made a searing break but his poor pass failed to find winger Peter Betham, they then messed up a line-out five metres from Sale's line and failed to threaten again.