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Sale Sharks confirm their play-off place as they fight back to defeat Bristol Bears 22-12 at the AJ Bell Stadium.
After a pointless first-half, an incredible 10-minutes of rugby saw Sharks come from behind to stun the table-toppers in front of the returning Sale supporters.
Victory over Bristol means Alex Sanderson guides the club to their first top-four finish in 16 years with their last coming in their league winning season in 2005/06.
Bears dominated the first-half and forced the Sharks into defending inside their 22 on many occasions. With the support from the stands, Sale stood firm and prevented a Bristol breakthrough, and with their only attack of the half, they almost opened the scoring.
The hosts worked the ball quickly along the backline to Luke James whose offload narrowly evaded the hands of Byron McGuigan, who had he caught the ball, almost certainly would have scored.
In April 2008, Sharks and Bears were level (0-0) at half time.
Sale ended up winners after 41-points were scored in the second half (24-17).
Is a similar second half to follow tonight? ?#SALvBRI | @ProstInt
— Thomas Anderson (@TAndersonsport) May 28, 2021
It didn’t take long for points to be scored in the second-half, and it was the visitors who drew first blood when they crossed after five minutes.
A powerful break from Semi Radrada started the move and it was finished off by Ben Earl who was able to run in after neat interplay exploited the Sharks backline.
Sale had the chance to respond immediately after winning a penalty in a dangerous position, however, a knock-on halted the attack. The roar from the stands seemed to wake up the hosts as over the next 10 minutes they turned into an unbeatable outfit.
The game was changed just before the hour when Bears were reduced to 14-men. Raffi Quirke’s fantastic break saw him evade multiple tackles before he was stopped illegally by Radrada who was sent to the sin bin for the offence.
Despite Sharks knocking forward from the penalty, they earnt one immediately at the scrum, as they powered their way over through Dan du Preez.
Minutes later Sale led after a moment of magic.
An excellent cross-field kick from AJ MacGinty bounced perfectly for McGuigan whose simple inside pass to Rob du Preez allowed the substitute to run in under the posts.
The Bears were stunned and Sale capitalised once again to score a third via a driving maul with 10 to play.
With the North Stand driving Sharks towards the line, and with a penalty advantage, it was inevitable that Bristol would keep Sale out.
Curtis Langdon controlled the maul from the back and he was the one to crash over and send the AJ Bell rocking.
Sharks had built themselves a 14-point lead to hold in the closing stages, but this was reduced when the Bears crossed with five minutes to go- setting up a nervy ending for the hosts.
Bears took advantage of an overload on the right-wing and first-half replacement, Ioan Llyod, made no mistake in finishing the move off in the corner. With the conversion, the points difference was reduced to seven.
For all their efforts, and first-half dominance, Bristol were to be denied of a bonus point when MacGinty’s penalty sailed through the posts with two minutes remaining giving Sale a 10-point victory.
Despite the defeat, Bears remain top of the table but could see their lead narrowed to three points depending on Exeter’s result. Sharks climb to second in the table, as they currently sit level on points with the Chiefs who they play in the final round.
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