| Sale (14) 35 |
| Tries: Carpenter 2, S James, Ross, J-L du Preez Cons: R du Preez 5 |
| Saracens (19) 24 |
| Tries: Lewington, Dan, Pifeleti Pens: Goode 2, Manu Vunipola |
Sale Sharks fought back to claim a bonus-point win in beating 14-man Premiership leaders Saracens.
After two Alex Goode penalties, Alex Lewington's try extended the visitors' lead, while Theo Dan also scored.
Joe Carpenter touched down twice either side of Sam James as Sale responded.
Jono Ross kept up Sale's resurgence before Kapeli Pifeleti hit back, but Sarries had Robin Hislop sent off for a high tackle on Carpenter and Jean-Luc du Preez made Sharks' advantage count.
Second-placed Sale's victory draws them to within six points of the league leaders as they consigned Sarries to just their third league defeat of the season.
Lewington scored the opening try as he took a simple Sean Maitland offload to go in at the right corner after some good work in the build-up.
Sarries padded out their lead in impressive fashion as they drove the ball over the line for Dan to touch down soon after a line-out deep in Sale territory.
Sale hit back in similar fashion to Dan's score as they drove from a line-out and hovered around Saracens' try-line, but the Sharks then worked the ball laterally, with Carpenter eventually running in with ease.
The hosts then made it a five-point game just before the break as Tom O'Flaherty darted into space and supplied James to run in behind the posts.
Carpenter's second came via a succession of passes which tore up the Saracens defence as he crossed over with ease, while Ross touched down from Rob du Preez's kick to the line to add the hosts' bonus point just after the hour mark.
The game turned further in Sale's favour after Hislop's red card, with Jean-Luc du Preez touching down on the verge of full-time to send a sell-out crowd into raptures.
Sale Sharks full-back Joe Carpenter told BBC Radio Manchester:
"We know Sarries fight for the full 80 minutes. We knew it wouldn't be easy. They came out firing. We turned it round, we had a chat, the leaders came together and put the boys up.
"It was a massive effort from the boys to claw down a 16-0 lead so I'm really proud of everyone.
"Scoring two in any game is fantastic but to do that against the league leaders is massive for me. That's seven for the season and every try is a bonus. I enjoy every single one of them."
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall:
"We made a really positive start, played really well for the first 30 minutes and were firmly in control.
"The stadium was very quiet but then came the yellow card for Alex Goode and very quickly they scored easily and from then on we couldn't get the momentum back.
"Some days you get the tight calls but today I didn't think we did. I'm unsure about the yellow card for Alex and everybody in the stadium could see that there was a clear forward pass for their try just before half-time.
"We hung in there and produced a lot of fight and could have snatched it at the end but I'm disappointed to lose our bonus point at the death."
Sale: Carpenter; Roebuck, S James, Mills, O'Flaherty; R du Preez, Warr; Rodd, Ashman, Oosthuizen, Wiese, Hill, Ross, Dugdale, J-L du Preez.
Replacements: Taylor, McIntyre, Schonert, Groves, Beaumont, Quirke, L James, Reed.
Saracens: Goode; Maitland, Lozowski, Tompkins, Lewington; Manu Vunipola, Davies; Mawi, Dan, Clarey, Isiekwe, Tizard, Ellis, Christie, B Vunipola.
Replacements: Pifeleti, Hislop, Bello, Boon, Knight, Van Zyl, Hartley, Segun.
Sin-bin: Goode (30)
Sent off: Hislop (68)
Referee: Tom Foley
Source: BBC Rugby Union News