Sale Sharks return to winning ways with a comfortable victory over Northampton Saints

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Sale Sharks returned to winning ways with a comfortable 30-6 win over Northampton Saints at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Tries from Akker van der Merwe, Marland Yarde and Jono Ross helped Sale avoid a third consecutive Premiership defeat for the first time since September 2018.

A second successive away defeat in a disappointing showing sees Northampton drop out the top four with the Sharks moving up to eighth, only three points behind the Saints.

The typical artic-like northwest weather didn’t phase the hosts as they hit hard in tackles and made it difficult for their visitors to sniff out any try-scoring opportunities.

Northampton did take the lead within six minutes through James Grayson’s penalty, however, the Sharks responded instantly with a try of their own to put themselves in the driving seat.

From a five-metre lineout, the ball broke free and Ben Curry slipped a pass out to the returning van der Merwe who finished simply in the corner.

From the restart, the Saints forced Sale into conceding a penalty but Grayson was unable to add the three points as he missed his first kick of the season.

After winning their opening three matches, the Saints had fallen to defeats in two of their last three outings. With 10 first-team players on international duty, their changed line-up struggled against a stronger Sale outfit.

The conceding of two penalties in the space of five minutes allowed AJ MacGinty to widen the hosts’ lead to 13-3 with seven minutes of the half remaining, although that was reduced to seven points at the interval when Grayson scored a penalty in the final seconds of the half.

Chris Boyd’s side had failed to win in their last four Premiership visits to the AJ Bell, and their task of ending that run was toughened when his side conceded a second try within 90 seconds of the second half.

Sale quickly set themselves up on Northampton’s try line, and with a penalty advantage being played, MacGinty’s perfectly placed cross-field kick picked out Yarde who dived over.

The visitors did put the Sharks defence under pressure inside their defending 22, and they looked as though they would drive over from a maul following a lineout.

However, Saints attempted to drive through Sale, but as they had done the whole match, the Sharks’ defence remained resilient to legally halt the maul.

As the clock ran down, it looked increasingly unlikely it would be Northampton’s evening. Grayson failed to reduce the score with his penalty before the hour, and minutes later, MacGinty widened the lead with his fifth kick off the match to maintain his 100% kicking record this campaign.

The hosts piled the pressure on a defeated Saints side in the closing minutes as back-to-back penalties allowed them to set themselves up five metres out.

Substitute Luke James looked to have forced his way over after a strong carry, however, it was captain Ross who picked up and powered over from close range to put the cherry on top of a fine Sale performance.

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