Match Centre: Sale Sharks 26-10 Leicester Tigers

Sale Sharks 26-10 Leicester Tigers, AJ Bell Stadium
Scorecard

AJ MacGinty contributed with 16 points as Sale Sharks went on to beat Leicester Tigers 26-10 in the 18th round of the Gallagher Premiership at AJ Bell Stadium on Friday.

This is Sale Sharks' 13th win from 18 games as they move to the second place in the table with 59 points while Leicester are at eighth place with 39 points.

MacGinty started the proceedings for Sale Sharks with a third minute penalty goal after Leicester were penalised at breakdown. The home side extended the lead in the 11th minute when MacGinty sent a long pass to Byron McGuigan, who dotted down in the 11th minute and the fly-half also kicked the conversion making it 10-0.

MacGinty continued to impress with two more penalties in the 19th and 28th minutes to extend their lead to 16 points before Leicester got their opening points in the 35th minute when Zack Henry kicked a three-pointer from the tee to ensure the opening half ended with a 16-3 scoreline.

Leicester were penalised for offside early in the second half and MacGinty responded back with his fourth penalty kick to make it 19-3 but Sale Sharks suffered a major setback as they lost Jean-Luc du Preez and Luke James to sin-bins with the latter penalised for a deliberate knock on in the 54th minute that also resulted in a penalty try for the visitors making it 19-10.

Despite down to 13 players, Sharks looked threatening through Marland Yarde and Cobus Wiese but could not quite get the breakthrough. The game was sealed for the Sharks in the 67th minute when Tom Curry sent a quick ball for Yarde to touchdown in the left corner and MacGinty improved it ensuring the home side completed a 26-10 victory to move second in the table.

Team line up:

Sale Sharks: L James; McGuigan, S James, Hill, Yarde; MacGinty, De Klerk; Rodd, Van der Merwe, Oosthuizen, Wiese, Beaumont, J-L du Preez, T Curry, D du Preez.

Reserves: Ashman, Harrison, John, Phillips, Nield, Quirke, Wilkinson, Doherty.

Leicester Tigers: Henry; Van Wyk, Moroni, Kelly, Murimurivalu; McPhillips, B Youngs, De Bruin, Clare, Heyes, Henderson, Lavanini, Martin, Brink, Liebenberg.

Reserves: Dolly, Whitcombe, Hurd, Green, Wiese, Van Poortvliet, Williams, Steward.