Exiles dent Sale's hopes
Alex Lewington's try double proved vital as London Irish dented Sale Sharks' hopes of a Premiership top-six finish with a thrilling 25-23 victory at the Madejski Stadium.
In a game where momentum did not just ebb and flow but veer wildly between both sides, Sale took an early lead through Tom Arscott's try before Irish flyhalf Chris Noakes landed two penalties.
Sale fullback Mike Haley then crossed over moments before the interval only to then fumble the last play of the half and allow Andrew Fenby to score as the visitors trailed 13-10 at the break.
Irish had already seen Tom Court sent to the bin before Blair Cowan then followed after the restart as Cipriani levelled and helped set up Arscott for his second try to make it 20-13.
The hosts made a careless start to the game, conceding a penalty close to their own try line as debutant Richard Palframan tackled Cipriani off the ball and the flyhalf kicked to the corner.
Sale secured the subsequent line-out and recycled the ball to work an overlap out on the right for wing Arscott to go over after just three minutes, with Cipriani missing the tough conversion attempt.
A tap-and-go then saw Irish bursting clear downfield with Palframan denied by the covering Sale defence, but referee Greg MacDonald came back for a prior infringement and Noakes landed his attempt to make it 5-3 after 17 minutes.
And the flyhalf put the Exiles ahead for the first time moments later as he knocked over his second penalty after Sale were penalised at the scrum in their own 22.
After a cagey period with several reset scrums, Irish prop Court was sent to the bin for collapsing a maul as Sale looked to drive over from close range.
Sale soon exploited their advantage, securing a five-metre line-out and working the ball quickly left for Haley to cross over, but Cipriani erred from the tee on 38 minutes.
Yet it was Irish who took an unlikely 13-10 lead into the interval as Noakes' penalty attempt fell short only for Haley to fumble Cipriani's pass, allowing Fenby to steal in and touch down - Noakes adding the extras.
The hosts undermined a bright start to the second half by going back down to 14 men moments after Court rejoined, with Cowan sin-binned for illegally impeding Cusiter as Cipriani levelled the game at 13-all.
That yellow card proved immediately costly for Irish as Sale won a scrum against the head and swept wide for Arscott to run in unopposed for his second try and Cipriani's conversion made it 20-13.
Irish thought they had secured an immediate response, only for the TMO to rule the ball was not grounded following a close-range maul but the hosts were boosted by a yellow card shown to Cusiter.
And with Cowan readying himself to come back on, the Exiles worked an impressive overlap to put Lewington over in the left corner but Noakes could not convert.
A remarkable fourth yellow card of the match soon followed though as Ojo was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle.
Yet 14-a-side seemed to suit the hosts as Lewington exploited the space left by the absent Cusiter to break a tackle and score his second try under the posts, Noakes converting to make it 25-20 just before the hour.
Sale went back up to full strength first and used their advantage to secure a penalty from a rolling maul as Cipriani bisected the posts and reduced the deficit to two points.
The hosts then had a chance to extend their lead after the Sharks infringed at the scrum but Noakes failed to convert with just five minutes remaining.
Cipriani then took his side back up to the Irish 22 but the hosts remained resolute in defence to secure a vital penalty and deny Sale a first league double over the Exiles for nine years.
The scorers:
For London Irish:
Tries: Fenby, Lewington 2
Cons: Noakes 2
Pens: Noakes 2
For Sale Sharks:
Tries: Arscott 2, Haley
Con: Cipriani
Pens: Cipriani 2
Yellow cards: Tom Court (London Irish, 32), Blair Cowan (London Irish, 43), Chris Cusiter (Sale Sharks, 50), Topsy Ojo (London Irish, 55)
Teams:
London Irish: 15 Andrew Fenby, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Fergus Mulchrone, 11 Alex Lewington, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Darren Allinson, 8 Tom Guest, 7 Blair Cowan, 6 Jebb Sinclair, 5 Nic Rouse, 4 George Skivington (captain), 3 Richard Palframan, 2 David Paice, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Jimmy Stevens, 17 Jamie Hagan, 18 Halani Aulika, 19 Dan Leo, 20 Luke Narraway, 21 Tomas O'Leary, 22 Gerard Ellis, 23 Tom Fowlie.
Sale Sharks: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 Josh Beaumont, 7 David Seymour, 6 Dan Braid (captain), 5 Nathan Hines, 4 Andrei Ostrikov, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Ross Harrison.
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 Eifion Lewis-Roberts, 18 Ciaran Parker, 19 Jonathan Mills, 20 Magnus Lund, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Tom Brady.
Referee: Greg Macdonald
Assistant referees: Nigel Carrick, Ross Campbell
TMO: Stuart Terheege
Source: @premrugby