Swiel help Harlequins survive Sale Sharks scare

Harlequins 29-26 Sale Sharks, Twickenham Stoop
Scorecard

Harlequins survived a late fightback from Sale Sharks and registered a 29-26 victory in the Aviva Premiership clash at Twickenham Stoop on Saturday.

Replacement fly-half Tim Swiel took over the kicking responsibility as early as in the fifth minute when Nick Evans had to leave the field due to injury.

Sale Sharks centre Will Addison and Swivel exchanged two penalties as the scores were levelled 6-6 in the first 20 minutes. Rugby league convert winger Denny Solomona made his presence fell early with a try in the 25th minute while Addison's conversion took the visitors to a seven-point lead.

But, Quins fought back brilliantly with back-to-back tries in a span of two minutes through wing Charlie Walker and Swivel as they ended the first half with a lead of seven points.

Wing Byron McGuigan scored the second try in the game for Sale Sharks but Swivel penalties on either side meant Harlequins stretched the lead to eight points.

Addison scored his third penalty in the 59th minute to bring down the gap to five points but Swiel negated it with another three-pointer in the 73rd minute.

With four minutes to go, Solomona crossed over for the second time but his efforts were not enough as Sale Sharks lost the game by a slender three-point margin but managed to secure a losing bonus point.

Sale Sharks rugby director Steve Diamond expressed satisfaction on securing a bonus point and is confident that the team is heading in the right direction.

"I'm satisfied with the bonus point as I've come down here before and lost by 50 points.

"Our performances in the past two weeks have been much better and if we play like that, we won't lose another game at home this season.

"We need to get security in this competition ahead of recruitment for next season but we need to have a bit more control and get the ball to Denny, who certainly knows where the whitewash is."