Newcastle Falcons keep hopes of avoiding relegation alive with 22-17 win over Sale Sharks

Newcastle Falcons 22-17 Sale Sharks, St James’ Park

Newcastle Falcons' chances of avoiding relegation have taken a major boost as they managed to beat Sale Sharks 22-17 at St James' Park on Saturday.

The win has taken Newcastle Falcons to 29 points - just three behind 11th placed Worcester Warriors while Sale Sharks slipped to sixth place with 40 points.

Sale applied early pressure on the Falcons and as a result, Denny Solomona dived over the line in the 6th minute and Faf de Klerk followed with a conversion and a penalty goal to make it 0-10.

Tane Takulua got the Falcons off the mark with a 17th-minute penalty goal and two minutes later Logovi'i Mulipola was sin-binned to hamper their momentum. The Falcons had their moment though with Sinoti Sinoti charging down but was thwarted by Sale's defence.

Just as the half-time was approaching, Sale thought they had their second try but a TMO adjudged Byron McGuigan to be offside. Takulua narrowed down the gap to four points with another penalty kick as the teams finished the first half with a 6-10 scoreline.

Sale had a disastrous second half start that saw Ben Curry sin-binned in the 42nd minute and Flood touched down a minute later. The momentum was with the home side as Takulua slotted an extra and three penalty goals to make it 22-10 before McGuigan reduced the losing margin for the visitors with a 73rd minute try.