Boks star as Sharks secure play-offs spot
PREMIERSHIP WRAP: Sale Sharks booked a play-off place and kept their hopes of a home semifinal alive after a 22-12 victory over league leaders Bristol on Friday.
Scoreless at the break, Bristol's Ben Earl crossed for the first try on 45 minutes.
But it was Sale who dominated the rest of the match, crossing the whitewash via the Du Preez brothers, Dan and Rob, and hooker Curtis Langdon to secure the win, despite Ioan Lloyd's late response for Pat Lam's team.
Friday's second game saw Gloucester edge London Irish 30-28 thanks to a last-minute 40-metre penalty from fly-half Billy Twelvetrees.
Tries from Santiago Carreras, Willi Heinz, Kyle Moyle and Louis Rees-Zammit earned Gloucester an additional bonus point with Twelvetrees adding two conversions and two penalties.
Curtis Rona, Will Goodrick-Clarke and Albert Tuisue scored tries for Irish with Paddy Jackson kicking three penalties and two conversions.
Friday's scores and scorers
Gloucester 30-28 London Irish
The scorers
For Gloucester
Tries: Carreras, Heinz, Moyle, Rees-Zammit
Cons: Twelvetrees 2
Pens: Twelvetrees 2
For London Irish
Tries: Rona, Goodrick-Clarke, Tuisue
Cons: Jackson 2
Pens: Jackson 3
The teams:
Gloucester: 15 Kyle Moyle, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Santiago Carreras, 10 Billy Twelvetrees, 9 Willi Heinz, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Lewis Ludlow (captain), 6 Ruan Ackermann, 5 Alex Craig, 4 Ed Slater, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Val Rapava-Ruskin.
Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 18 Jack Stanley, 19 Freddie Clarke, 20 Jack Clement, 21 Stephen Varney, 22 Lloyd Evans, 23 Ollie Thorley.
London Irish: 15 Tom Parton, 14 James Stokes, 13 Curtis Rona, 12 Phil Cokanasiga, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Albert Tuisue, 7 Ben Donnell, 6 Matt Rogerson (captain), 5 Rob Simmons, 4 George Nott, 3 Lovejoy Chawatama, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke.
Replacements: 16 Motu Matu’u, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Ollie Hoskins, 19 Adam Coleman, 20 Sean O’Brien, 21 Caolan Englefield, 22 Jacob Atkins, 23 Terrence Hepetema.
Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant referees: Luke Pearce & Simon McConnell
TMO: Karl Dickson
Sale Sharks 22-12 Bristol Bears
The scorers
For Sale Sharks
Tries: D du Preez, R du Preez, Langdon
Cons: MacGinty 2
Pen: MacGinty
For Bristol Bears
Tries: Earl, Lloyd
Con: Sheedy
Yellow card: Semi Radradra Waqavatu (Bristol Bears, 57)
The teams:
Sale Sharks: 15 Luke James, 14 Byron McGuigan, 13 Sam James, 12 Connor Doherty, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Francois de Klerk, 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Tom Curry (captain), 6 Ben Curry, 5 Jean-Luc du Preez, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Armand van der Merwe, 1 Bevan Rodd.
Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Valery Morozov, 18 James Harper, 19 James Phillips, 20 Cameron Neild, 21 Raffi Quirke, 22 Robert du Preez, 23 Manu Tuilagi.
Bristol: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Luke Morahan, 13 Semi Radradra, 12 Piers O’Conor, 11 Max Malins, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Andy Uren, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Ben Earl, 6 Fitz Harding, 5 Chris Vui (captain), 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jake Kerr, 1 Jake Woolmore.
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 19 Ed Holmes, 20 Jake Heenan, 21 Tom Kessell, 22 Ioan Lloyd, 23 Siale Piutau.
Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant referees: Hamish Smales & Peter Allan
TMO: Ian Tempest