 | MATCH SUMMARY Bristol: 22 (12)
Tries: Perry
Cons: Strange
Pens: Strange (5) Sale: 14 (7)
Tries: Schofield, Martens
Cons: Courrent (2) |
Five penalties from the boot of Jason Strange helped mid-table Bristol stun Guinness Premiership leaders Sale. Strange struck twice early on but Sale hit back with a Dean Schofield try, converted by Valentin Courrent.
But two more kicks from Strange put the home side 12-7 up at the break and another straight after the restart further stretched their advantage.
Shaun Perry's converted try then put the game beyond Sale's reach and Sililo Martens' score was a mere consolation.
The defeat was Sale's second of the season but Courrent missed a late long-range penalty to deny them a bonus point.
Sale's cause was not helped by the sin-binning of flanker Magnus Lund just before the break with the score poised at 9-7 and Bristol were able to add two penalties in his absence.
And although the visitors applied pressure on his return, Bristol sealed the win when Perry raced in from 22 metres after good work from David Lemi and Brian Lima.
Bristol head coach Richard Hill:
"Apart from the defeat at Worcester this has been a very good period for us. "We are ahead of where we had anticipated being at this stage of the season. We knew that Leeds would come back and pick up a run at some stage and they could be looking for their third win in a row when they play Newcastle next.
"It's put a bit of extra pressure on us but we have to keep doing exactly what we have done as well as possible and pick up as many points as we can in the process.
"If we do reasonably well and we don't stay up then so be it. But we intend to get as many points as possible in the hope that it lets us stay up."
Sale director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre:
"I don't want to criticise my players because they've won three games consecutively during the autumn internationals when we've had 12 players out. "These guys gave 120% for the first three games but today they did work hard and gave 80%.
"The Guinness Premiership is so tough that if you drop a little you will lose the game. This season during the international period we have gained 12 league points while last season it was five so we are much better.
"Bristol deserved to win and wanted to win this game, especially after Leeds won at Bath on Friday evening. We are looking forward to playing them on our ground in the new year."
Bristol: Stortoni; Lemi, Lima, Cox, Going; Strange, Perry; Hilton, Regan, Crompton; Winters, Llewellyn; Salter (capt), El Abd, Lewis.
Replacements: Ward-Smith for Lewis (67).
Not Used: A Clarke, Nelson, Sambucetti, Higgitt, Hayes,
Rauluni.
Sin bin: Salter (81).
Sale: Larrechea; Ripol, Taylor, Todd, Robinson; Courrent, Wigglesworth; Coutts, Titterrell, Stewart; Day, Schofield; Bonner-Evans, Lund, Fernandez Lobbe.
Replacements (from): Wakley for Larrechea (70), Mayor for Ripol (40), Martens for Wigglesworth (67), Turner for Stewart (46), Jones for Bonner-Evans (46).
Not Used: Halsall, Anglesea.
Sin bin: Lund (40).
Att: 7,518
Referee: Martin Fox (Leicester).
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