Two wins from two for Newcastle

Newcastle made it two wins out of two to start the Premiership season as they edged Sale Sharks 13-12 in Salford on Friday.

The opening round of the Premiership was a try fest but the first half at AJ Bell Stadium this time around was anything but, with Sale going into the break leading 3-0. Those points came via fly-half AJ MacGinty in the 19th minute.

Finally scrum-half Sonatane Takulua got Newcastle Falcons on the board in the 46th minute with a levelling effort, but one each from MacGinty and Takulua again meant it was six apiece with 28 minutes remaining in a tight game.

Two further penalties from USA international fly-half MacGinty – in the 57th and 60th minute – moved Sale into a promsing 12-6 buffer.

However with six minutes remaining a penalty try was awarded to the Falcons by referee Andrew Jackson and at 13-12 in front they were within touching distance of back-to-back wins, ultimately holding on for a crucial away win.

The scorers:

For Sale:
Pens: MacGinty 4
Yellow Card: Jones

For Newcastle:
Try: Penalty Try
Pens: Takulua 2
Yellow Card: Tait

Sale: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Will Addison (c), 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Byron McGuigan, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Jono Ross, 5 Andre Ostrikov, 4 Josh Beaumont, 3 Alex Tarus, 2 Cameron Neild, 1 Ross Harrison
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 James Flynn, 18 WillGriff John, 19 George Nott, 20 Ben Curry, 21 TJ Ioane, 22 Will Cliff, 23 Sam James

Newcastle: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Alex Tait, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Belisario Agulla, 10 Joel Hodgson, 9 Sonatane Takulua, 8 Callum Chick, 7 Will Welch (c), 6 Mark Wilson, 5 Will Witty, 4 Calum Green, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Rob Vickers
Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Sami Mavinga, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Sean Robinson, 20 Nili Latu, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Juan Pablo Socino, 23 Vereniki Goneva

Referee: Andrew Jackson
Assistant Referees: Greg MacDonald, Steve Lee
TMO: Trevor Fisher