 | Bath: (6) 9
Pens: Barkley 3 Sale: (3) 21
Tries: Seveali'i, Lund
Con: Hodgson
Pens: Hodgson 3 |
Sale returned to the top of the Premiership as they condemned new Bath coach Brian Ashton to defeat in his first game back in charge at The Rec. The hosts led 6-3 at the interval courtesy of two Olly Barkley penalties to one from Charlie Hodgson.
But a try from Bath old-boy Elvis Seveali'i five minutes into the second half turned the tide the visitors' way.
Barkley brought Bath back to within a point but a second try from flanker Magnus Lund clinched victory for Sale.
Hodgson added two more penalties in the second half to secure Sale their first win on Bath soil since April 1998.
A break and inside pass from the England fly-half had earlier sent Seveali'i through the first line of defence and past two further tacklers for the decisive score. It was a sweet moment for Seveali'i, who scored a match-winning try against London Irish that saved Bath from relegation three years ago, but was then discarded.
Sale are now level on points with Wasps, but return to the top by virtue of their nine wins to the champions' eight.
Bath remain in the bottom three, six points above basement club Leeds, after a seventh defeat in 11 Premiership games.
New director of rugby Brian Ashton, who has returned to the club after a nine-year gap, has the task of adding an attacking dimension badly lacking in the Premiership.
Bath have scored only 12 tries in the first half of their league campaign, and have not registered a Premiership try at The Rec since last April.
Bath coach Michael Foley:
"It is really disappointing in the context of how we played in December when we had four wins out of four and scored 13 tries. "Our execution was very poor but when you play the best team in England the basics have to be good.
"Sale have got a lot of dangers - and they have the greatest depth in their squad in terms of international players. I also thought Charlie Hodgson was fantastic - he is undoubtedly the best number 10 over here."
Sale director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre:
"Charlie (Hodgson) has grown up so much as a player over the last 18 months. He reads the game so well and he is getting better and better. "His confidence is very, very high. If he makes one mistake it doesn't matter, because he will still do some good things.
"We haven't performed very well in the two games leading up to this match but today was a much better performance. We kept the ball a lot better."
Bath: Stephenson; Maddock, Crockett, Barkley, Bory; Malone, Walshe; Stevens, Mears, Bell; Borthwick (capt), Grewcock; Beattie, Scaysbrook, Fea'unati.
Replacements: Higgins for Bory (69), Delve for Fea'unati (73), Flatman for Bell (77), Short for Beattie (77), Williams for Walshe (80), Dixon for Mears (80), Davis for Maddock (80).
Sale: Larrechea; Cueto, Taylor, Seveali'i, Robinson; Hodgson, Martens; Sheridan, Bruno, Turner; Schofield, C Jones; White, Lund, Chabal.
Replacements: Mayor for Taylor (68), Wigglesworth for Martens (68), Taione for Chabal (71), Coutts for Turner (73), Faure for Sheridan (80), Titterrell for Bruno (80), Day for C Jones (80).
Att: 10,600
Referee: Chris White (RFU)
MMIX
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Charlie has grown up so much as a player over the last 18 months