Late try sees Sale floor Wasps

A last-ditch try from Marland Yarde helped Sale to a 28-27 bonus-point win over Wasps that lifts them up to fifth in the Premiership.

It was an incredible end to a superb game of Premiership rugby at the AJ Bell Stadium as Yarde scored with no time left to seal victory.

After Danny Cipriani was stretchered off following a nasty head collision, Sale packed down before the ball found its way to the Sale wing who finished well on the left touchline to grab not only the win but also a try bonus-point.

A Sale victory seemed highly unlikely when Wasps raced into a 17-0 lead after 21 minutes, thanks to an Elliot Daly penalty and two scores from left wing Josh Bassett, both of which were set up by classy full-back Willie le Roux.

But somehow the Sharks clawed their way back into the contest with a penalty from AJ MacGinty, followed up by Rob Webber crashing over on 37 minutes before a MacGinty cross-kick found Byron McGuigan to make it 17-15.

Sale's comeback continued a minute into the second-half when Bryn Evans went over after Wasps had a clearing kick charged down.

MacGinty would make it 23-17 to Sale with a penalty on 46 minutes but Wasps recovered and moved back into the lead when Christian Wade wasn't held and sent Daly over for a run-in on the right wing. The visitors led 24-23.

Then a moment of ill-discipline from Cipriani at a ruck saw him yellow carded on 56 minutes. However Wasps were lucky not to leak any points during his absence and in fact extended their buffer when Gopperth made it 27-23.

But then came the late drama as, with James Haskell in the sin-bin for being offside on his try-line, Sale launched a long spell of pressure in the Wasps' 22 that finally ended with Yarde crossing, leaving the home crowd ecstatic.

The scorers:

For Sale:
Tries: Webber, McGuigan, Evans, Yarde
Con: MacGinty
Pens: MacGinty 2

For Wasps:
Tries: Bassett 2, Daly
Cons: Gopperth 3
Pens: Daly, Gopperth
Yellow Cards: Cipriani, Haskell

Sale Sharks: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Byron McGuigan, 13 Sam James, 12 James O'Connor, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Ben Curry, 6 Jono Ross (c), 5 Andrei Ostrikov, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 Alexandru Tarus, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Ross Harrison
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 James Flynn, 18 Halani Aulika, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Tom Curry, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Luke James, 23 TJ Ioane

Wasps: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Jimmy Gopperth, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Guy Thompson, 7 Thomas Young, 6 Jack Willis, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 Joe Launchbury (c), 3 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 2 Tom Cruse, 1 Matt Mullan
Replacements: 16 Tommy Taylor, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Marty Moore, 19 Will Rowlands, 20 James Haskell, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Juan De Jongh, 23 Guy Armitage

Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant referees: Jonathan Healy, Tim Wigglesworth
Television match official: Keith Lewis