Sale Sharks seal 26-24 win over Newcastle despite Goneva hat-trick

Sale Sharks 26-24 Newcastle Falcons, AJ Bell Stadium
Scorecard

A hat-trick of tries from winger Vereniki Goneva proved fruitless as Sale Sharks edged out Newcastle Falcons with a thrilling 26-24 win in their Aviva Premiership clash at AJ Bell Stadium on Friday.

Juan Pablo Socino got the visitors going with a try in the first minute followed by a Joel Hodgson conversion but Sale Sharks bounced back with back-to-back penalties from wing Will Addison to reduce the gap to one-point in the first 10 minutes.

Goneva scored his first of the three tries in the 26th minute but was sin-binned soon after leading to two more touchdowns from Sale Sharks through Denny Solomona and Byron McGuigan as Steve Diamond's men went into half-time with a 18-12 lead.

Sale Sharks extended the lead by five more points when Bryn Evans strolled past the post in the 50th minute but it was negated by Goneva's second try.

It was a one-man show at AJ Bell Stadium as Goneva scored his third try in the 60th minute and the visitors got into a one-point lead following a conversion from scrum-half Tane Takulua.

Just when the game was ending for a tight finish, Addison scored the decisive penalty in the 74th minute to take the Quins through by a slender two-point margin.