Sale Sharks reach the Gallagher Premiership final for the first time in 17 years

Sale Sharks beat defending champions Leicester Tigers to book their place in the Gallagher Premiership final in two weeks-time.

The Manchester-based side will take on Saracens thanks to tries from northern duo, Tom Roebuck and Arron Reed.

Sale’s win sets up a tasty final at HQ between this season’s 1st and 2nd place teams.

Tigers were enforced into a late change to their 15 with Jimmy Gopperth coming in for World Cup winner, Handre Pollard and it was the 39-year-old who was hugely involved in the opening proceedings.

The New Zealander was given the chance to give his side an early lead, but in the 5th minute he dragged a penalty wide of the upright.

He quickly redeemed himself with two penalties in the space of three minutes to give the Tigers a six point lead after 11 minutes, dampening the atmosphere at the AJ Bell Stadium.

The semi-final really livened up in the 15th minute when Tom Curry dump tackled Cameron Henderson after the ball had gone, causing a scuffle in the middle of the park.

Sale thought they had got the first try of the afternoon when the returning Akker van der Merwe dotted down in the corner, but he dropped the ball just before the line.

The home side did get that try three minutes later when Tom Roebuck dived in to score in the corner after great Sale attacking play.

The Tigers responded putting the hosts under a huge pressure in the following ten minutes, but Ben Curry came up with a massive turnover to relieve the growing pressure, injuring himself in the process.

It was then the visitors time to show their defensive ability as Sale attempted to get their 2nd try of the afternoon.

Within two minutes Sale nearly had two tries with Rob Du Preez only being denied a try in the corner due to a stray foot in touch.

In the 36th minute Dan Cole was shown a yellow card for a high hit on opposing front rower, Akker van der Merwe.

Only a minute later Tigers nearly had a second in the bin in as many minutes when Ben Youngs looked to have hit Rob Du Preez high, but the scrum-half wasn’t penalised, leaving the field for a HIA.

The match was in the balance at the break with just a point between the sides.

Manu Tuilagi’s massive hit five minutes into the second period sprung the crowd back into life as well as helping Sale win a penalty, which Ford fired between the posts to extend Sale’s lead.

They didn’t lead for long with Tigers scoring their only try of the game when Guy Porter dived over the try line, after a long pass by Dan Kelly to unleash the winger.

The game swayed once again three minutes later when a Ford penalty drew the side’s level with just under an hour gone.

It was another northern lad who got over the try line for Sale in the 63rd minute, as a bouncing pass from Ford was brilliantly gathered by Reed who ran in to put Sale back ahead.

Ford didn’t convert the try, but did nail a penalty minutes later from 46 metres out to take Sale’s lead beyond a converted try.

Tigers did have their chances in the remaining ten minutes to draw the Sharks in, but two penalty kicks from Charlie Atkinson and Jack van Poortvliet both went beyond the try line meaning the visitors were dragged the whole way back to where the penalty was taken from.

This killed the pressure the Tigers could have put on the hosts and in the end Sale saw out the remaining minutes to make their first final since they won the league back in 2006.

Alex Sanderson’s will take on his former side, Saracens in the league’s showpiece final on Saturday 27 May.

Sanderson will be hoping this two week break will give his side time to recover from a bruising semi-final.

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