Match Centre: Gallagher Premiership: Sale 40-22 Newcastle
Ben Curry (right) was one of the try-scorer for Sale
©PA
Sale 40-22 Newcastle, Salford Stadium
Sale managed to hold on a second half fightback from Newcastle Falcons as they sealed a 40-22 victory in the latest round of the Gallagher Premiership at Salford Stadium on Friday.
The Falcons now have lost all their six matches in the competition as they languish at the bottom of the table while Sale have consolidated their position at the top after registering their fifth victory.
Newcastle scored the opening try inside two minutes as Louis Brown marked his Premiership debut with a touchdown after good work from Zach Kerr and Iwan Stephens. Josh Thomas missed out on the conversion though.
The Sharks responded back in the 10th minute as a grubber kick from Tom Roebuck was collected by Arron Reed to complete the first of his two tries. Robert du Preez's conversion went wide as the scores remained levelled at 5-5.
The trend continued as Newcastle skipper Callum Chick dotted down at the end of a close range ruck in the 21st minute but further tries from Ben Curry, Robert du Preez and Reed ensured the home side grabbed the bonus point in the opening half and also a 26-10 lead.
Newcastle clawed their way back into the game as Bryan Byrne scored at the back of a line out in the 50th minute and three minutes later Iwan Stephens collected a kick beating Gus Warr to score as the gap came down to 26-22.
Du Preez had a chance to take Sale to safety but missed back to back penalty chances in the 66th and 72nd minutes. Any chance of a Newcastle comeback was hampered with Ollie Spencer sent to sin-bin for an infringement at the ruck in the 75th minute and with the numerical advantage on their side Sale added further two tries from Sam James and Roebuck to complete a 40-22 victory.
Team line up:
Sale: Carpenter; Roebuck, S James, Bedlow, Reed; R du Preez, Warr; Rodd, Creevy, Harper, Wiese, Hill, van Rhyn, B Curry, D du Preez.
Reserves: Cowan-Dickie, Harrison, Opoku-Fordjour, Bamber, Dugdale, Thomas, Curtis, Wills.
Newcastle: Redshaw; Brown, Kerr, Hutchison, Stephens; Thomas, Elliott; Brantingham, B Byrne, McCallum, Cardall, McDonald, Hawkins, Pepper, Chick.
Reserves: Maddison, Brocklebank, Tampin, Kelly, Bainbridge, Barton, Johnson, Spencer.
