Sale Sharks shock Leicester at Welford Road

Sale Sharks moved up to seventh place in the Premiership after beating Leicester Tigers 3-10 at Welford Road in the Aviva Premiership.

Sale’s Josh Beaumont scored the only try of the match in the second half and the loss for Leicester is their first loss at home for the Premiership season.

The Tigers had not lost at home since they were beaten by London Irish in 2014.

Leicester suffered a blow before the match as England hooker and Tigers captain Tom Youngs, who had only just returned from suspension,  pulled out which saw Leonardo Ghiraldini promoted to the starting line-up and Harry Thacker stepping up onto the bench.

The match was anything but an advert for kicking as Danny Cipriani and Freddie Burns missed a succession of opportunities with the boot.

They were able to successfully kick one penalty each to make the score 3-3 at the interval.

There was only one score in the second half and it came through Josh Beaumont, the visitors’ captain scoring a try which was converted successfully on this occasion by Cipriani.

Burns had missed a kick early on in the half for Leicester but opportunities were otherwise few and far between as it finished with Sale deserved winners.

The win sees the Sharks move into seventh place in the Premiership table in their push for Champions Cup qualification.

Leicester, however, remain in fourth position but are vulnerable having failed to gain a bounus point and fifth placed Wasps beating Newcastle.

Cipriani put Sale into an early lead in the 11th minute with his second penalty attempt of the afternoon.

In driving rain opportunities were hard to come by until Freddie Burns was successful with his first attempted penalty kick in the 31st minute to draw the sides level.

Half-time came with the scores at 3-3, both sides struggling for a foothold in a match being dictated by the poor conditions at Welford Road.

On his return from the England squad, Sale’s Beaumont touching down after a driving maul from the visitors. Cipriani put his kicking woes behind him to convert and establish a 3-10 lead and this was how it finished.

Final Score Leicester Tigers 3 (3) Sale Sharks 10 (3)

Scorers

Leicester Tigers
Tries –
Pen – Burns
Con –
Drop –

Sale Sharks
Tries – Beaumont
Pen – Cipriani
Con – Cipriani
Drop –

Match Officials
Referee :Tim Wigglesworth (100th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Ross Campbell & Paul Burton.
TMO: Trevor Fisher.

Teams

Leicester Tigers

15 Tommy Bell , 14 Peter Betham , 13 Mathew Tait , 12 Matt Smith , 11 Telusa Veainu , 10 Freddie Burns , 9 Sam Harrison , 1 Logovi’i Mulipola , 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini , 3 Fraser Balmain , 4 Dom Barrow , 5 Graham Kitchener , 6 Mike Fitzgerald , 7 Lachlan McCaffrey , 8 Jordan Crane

Replacements : 16 Harry Thacker , 17 Riccardo Brugnara , 18 Greg Bateman , 19 Ed Slater , 20 Tom Croft , 21 Jono Kitto , 22 Gonzalo Camacho , 23 Jack Roberts

Sale Sharks

15. Mike Haley, 14. Will Addison, 13. Sam James, 12. Sam Tuitupou, 11. Nev Edwards, 10. Danny Cipriani, 9. Chris Cusiter, 1. Ross Harrison, 2. Tommy Taylor, 3. Vadim Cobilas, 4. Bryn Evans, 5. Andrei Ostrikov, 6. Cameron Neild, 7. TJ Ioane, 8. Josh Beaumont (capt).

Replacements: 16. Neil Briggs, 17. Eifion Lewis-Roberts, 18. Brian Mujati, 19. Jonathan Mills, 20. David Seymour, 21. Peter Stringer, 22. Joe Ford, 23. Tom Arscott.