Leicester Lions vs Sale FC

Recap

Sale fail to tame Leicester Lions

Sale headed to the Midlands on the back of a 4-match winning streak to take on a Leicester side looking for their first victory of the season.

The game started with Sale playing into a stiff breeze but the blue and whites took the lead in the 13th minute as Mark Dixon made a good break from a scrum before offloading perfectly for Joe Green to scamper in. 0-5

The hosts were soon in front as inside centre, Freddie St John, outstripped the defence to score and they then extended their lead through George Pearson; Both tries were converted by fly-half, Luke Bouchier. 14-5

Sale hit back on 29 minutes when Nathan Langdon’s tap penalty took the Dogs close before Ciaran Parker was helped over the whitewash by the pack; Will Davies added the extras. HT 14-12

The start of the second half saw Sale fly out of the traps and take the lead when Joe Green returned the favour from earlier for Mark Dixon to blast through. 14-17

Back came the Lions with Oliver Crane scoring from a rolling maul but the Dogs were quickly ahead again as Alfie Longstaff crashed over; Will Davies made no mistake from the tee. 21-24

Crucially, the hosts then produced some fine attacking rugby and scored a brace of converted tries through Bouchier and Bronson Mellowes to put them more than one score ahead. 35-24

The Dogs weren’t done as Patrick Hogg did brilliantly to get within 2m of the line before offloading for Ralph McEachran to bash his way over; Will Davies again on target. 35-31

Try as they might though, Sale could not make late pressure count and had to settle for 2 losing bonus points instead. FT 35-31