Sale Sharks kept their chances of playing in the Heineken Cup alive for another week after they beat Gloucester 19-24 at Kingholm on Saturday.

Bryan Redpath's departure from Gloucester this week and strong rumours that he will become part of Sale's setup next season added significant extra spice to this match which already had the small matter of a Heineken Cup place for next season at stake.

And that hunger and desire to get one over on the opposition spilled over early on as both Akapusi Qera and Rob Miller were sin-binned inside the first five minutes for fighting to make it fourteen-a-side for a ten minute spell.

While the pair were cooling off, Freddie Burns and Nick Macleod exchanged penalties but it took until midway through the first half for the game to catch fire again.

First Miller crossed for the Sharks after a good pass from England Under-20 international Will Addison had put him through.

Charlie Sharples replied almost instantly for the home side though and the conversions and two further penalties from Burns made it 16-10 to the Cherry and Whites at the break.

Burns extended the lead with another three points early in the second half but Sale were not about to lie down and, after some patient approach play, Mark Cueto provided Miller with his second try of the afternoon.

Macleod struck the post with the conversion but more than made amends with a penalty midway through the half to reduce the deficit to just a point and another with ten minutes remaining to put his team 21-19 ahead.

And the fly-half added a late drop-goal to secure the win and almost guarantee Heineken Cup rugby for next season as they now sit five points ahead of their opponents in the table with just one game left.

Final Score Gloucester (16) 19 Sale Sharks (10) 24

Scorers

Gloucester
Tries: Sharples
Con: Burns
Pens: Burns 4

Sale Sharks
Tries: Miller 2
Cons: Macleod
Pens: Macleod 3

Teams

Gloucester

Jonny May; Charlie Sharples, Mike Tindall, Tim Molenaar, James Simpson-Daniel; Freddie Burns, Dave Lewis; Dan Murphy, Scott Lawson, Rupert Harden; Jim Hamilton, Alex Brown; Peter Buxton (capt), Akapusi Qera, Alasdair Strokosch

Replacements:Darren Dawidiuk, Yann Thomas, Shaun Knight, Will James, Matt Cox, Dan Robson, Ryan Mills, Tom Voyce

Sharks

15.Rob Miller, 14.Tom Brady, 13.Will Addison, 12.Sam Tuitupou (capt.), 11.Mark Cueto, 10.Nick Macleod, 9.Cillian Willis, 1.Andrew Sheridan, 2.Joe Ward, 3.Tony Buckley, 4.Andrei Ostrikov, 5. Kearnan Myall, 6.Mark Easter, 7.David Seymour, 8.Andy Powell.

Replacements: 16.Marc Jones, 17.Lee Imiolek, 18.Henry Thomas, 19.Tom Holmes, 20.Tommy Taylor, 21. Scott Mathie, 22. Andrew Higgins, 23.Charlie Amesbury