Sale hold out against Irish

Editor

A late converted try from Danny Cipriani helped Sale Sharks to a 30-15 victory over London Irish in the Premiership at Madejski Stadium on Saturday.

The home side remain at the bottom of the Premiership table after being outplayed by Sale, the boot of Cipriani being the notable difference between the two sides.

Irish started this one slowly, with Cipriani firing Sale ahead after six minutes. Greig Tonks levelled three minutes later with a relatively easy conversion. 

Coming after the Irish kicker missed an effort at the posts, a well worked move saw the ball end up in the hands of Sean Maitland who touched over the line. Cipriani made Tonks pay for his earlier misses with his second penalty of the afternoon, coming after the hosts failed to roll away. 

The hosts thought they had further enhanced their lead when going over, but celebrations were cut short when a forward pass was given. Tonks had yet another chance to get Sale into double figures, but for the third time he flashed an effort wide of the posts. 

Sale equalised the try scoring and took the lead for themselves minutes before the break. Mike Haley went over for the visitors first score after an overlap was created. Cipriani converted and the Sharks went into the break with a 13-8 lead. 

Irish were under the cosh for the first ten minutes of the second half but defended superbly to halt a Sale try. Cipriani continued to help Sale tick along and added another penalty to make the score16-8. 

However big finish was on the cards when the home side reduced Sale's lead to just one point. Williams went over for the try with Tonks adding the extras that took the scoreboard to 16-15. 

Replacement number eight TJ Ioane's try restored a healthy lead, Cipriani made no mistake with the conversion. The fly-half went over for the final score of the match, converting his own try to take the final score to 15-30.

The scorers:

For London Irish:
Tries: Maitland, Williams
Con: Tonks
Pen: Tonks

For Sale:
Tries: Haley, Ioane, Cipriani
Cons: Cipriani 3
Pens: Cipriani 3
Yellow Card: Briggs

London Irish: 15 Sean Maitland, 14 Tom Fowlie, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Andrew Fenby, 10 Greig Tonks, 9 Scott Steele, 8 Ofisa Treviranus, 7 Blair Cowan, 6 Luke Narraway (c), 5 Matt Symons, 4 Jebb Sinclair, 3 Halani Aulika, 2 David Paice, 1 Tom Court
Replacements: 16 Tom Cruse, 17 Tom Smallbone, 18 Leo Halavatau, 19 Jerry Sexton, 20 Rob McCusker, 21 Brendan McKibbin, 22 Theo Brophy Clews, 23 Fergus Mulchrone

Sale: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Will Addison, 13 Sam James, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Nev Edwards, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Mark Easter, 7 David Seymour (c), 6 Cameron Neild, 5 Andrei Ostrikov, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Eifion Lewis Roberts
Replacements: 16 Neil Briggs, 17 Ross Harrison, 18 Vadim Cobilas, 19 Jonathan Mills, 20 Magnus Lund, 21 TJ Ioane, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Tom Brady

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys
Assistant Referees: Roger Baileff, Roy Maybank
TMO: Sean Davey