A first half try from David Seymour helped Sale Sharks edge a close contest with Gloucester 13-11 at Edgely Park.
Sale were looking to bounce back from a high-scoring defeat to table-toppers Harlequins last week, while Gloucester were looking for a third consecutive win following victories over Bath and London Irish.
But while there were tries aplenty for the Sharks the previous week, there were much fewer opportunities to rack up the points on this occasion.
The only try of the first half came on 18 minutes, when flanker David Seymour crossed after Sam Tuitupou had laid an excellent platform and managed to produce a clever offload.
Nick MacLeod added the conversion and his penalty on the stroke of half-time - awarded following an infringement at the scrum - brought about the only other points of a tight first period.
Gloucester fought back during the opening stages of the second half. Two Tim Taylor penalties - the latter coming after Sale's Henry Thomas had been sin-binned - narrowed the Sharks' advantage to four, but a MacLeod penalty on the hour mark gave the hosts a little more breathing space.
Sale's hopes of seeing out the game comfortably were torn up on 70 minutes when Henry Trinder's burrowed over after Nick Wood had won possession for Gloucester.
Trinder's try set up a grandstand finish, but the Sharks held on to record a fourth win in five matches. Defeat for Gloucester, meanwhile, dents their recent record of good form.
The scorers:
For Sale:
Tries: Seymour
Cons: MacLeod
Pens: MacLeod 2
For Gloucester:
Tries: Trinder
Pens: Taylor 2
Yellow cards: Thomas (Sale)
Sale Sharks: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Will Addison, 12 Sam Tuitupou (c), 11 Joaquin Tuculet, 10 Nick Macleod, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Mark Easter, 7 David Seymour, 6 James Gaskell, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 Fraser McKenzie, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Lee Imiolek.
Replacements: 16 Joe Ward, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Vadim Cobilas, 19 Tom Holmes, 20 Richie Vernon, 21 Scott Mathie, 22 Andrew Higgins, 23 Charlie Amesbury
Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Jonny May, 11 Tom Voyce, 10 Tim Taylor, 9 Nick Runciman, 8 Brett Deacon 7 Luke Narraway, 6 Peter Buxton (c), 5 Will James, 4 Tom Savage, 3 Rupert Harden, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Matias Cortese, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 David Lyons, 20 Matt Cox, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 James Simpson-Daniel
Venue: Edgeley Park
Referee: Sean Davey
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