Match Centre: Gallagher Premiership: Northampton 21-17 Sale
George Furbank was one of the try scorer for Northampton
©Steve Haag
Northampton 21-17 Sale Sharks, cinch Stadium @ Franklin's Gardens
Northampton Saints moved to the top of the table as they edged out Sale Sharks 21-17 in the latest round of the Gallagher Premiership at cinch Stadium @ Franklin's Gardens on Saturday.
This is fourth straight win for the Saints in the Premiership and sixth across all the competition as they went past Exeter to the top of the table while Sale Sharks are at third place.
Alex Coles led Saints on what was his 100th appearance and both the teams remained scoreless in the opening quarter as George Ford and Fin Smith missed penalty kicks.
The first points eventually came in the 37th minute as Ford put Carpenter through a gap to cross and the England fly-half also kicked the conversion on what were the only points in the opening half at the end of which the visitors had a 0-7 lead.
Sale got off the block early in the second half as Ford kicked into the 22 and Luke Cowan-Dickie muscled his way over to take them to a 0-14 lead before Northampton made their first response in the 52nd minute Smith and Hutchinson combined to send George Furbank over the line. Smith kicked the conversion to make it 7-14.
Ford kicked the drop goal at the end of the third quarter before Mitchell celebrated his 100th appearance with his fifth try in eight games and with 10 minutes left in the game the Saints were awarded a penalty try with replacement prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour sin binned for tackling Furbank a second score from offside position as they completed a four point victory.
Team line up:
Northampton: Furbank (capt), Freeman, Odendaal, Hutchinson, Sleightholme, Smith, Mitchell; Waller, Matavesi, Davison, Munga, Coles, Scott-Young, Pearson, Augustus.
Reserves: Langdon, Haffar, Hill, Moon, Lawes, Graham, Braley, Litchfield.
Sale: Carpenter, Roebuck, James, Rob du Preez, Reed, Ford, Warr; Harrison, Cowan-Dickie, Schonert, Wiese, Hill, van Rhyn, Curry (capt), Jean-Luc du Preez.
Reserves: Taylor, Onasanya, Opoku-Fordjour, Beaumont, Dugdale, Thomas, James, Veainu.
