 Vesty clinched victory for the Tigers with his dramatic late penalty |
Sale (12) 25
Tries: Penalty
Cons: Jones
Pens: Thomas (4)
Drops: Thomas (2)
Leicester (13) 26
Tries: Croft, Abraham
Cons: Vesty (2)
Pens: Humphreys, Vesty (3)
A last-minute penalty from Sam Vesty helped Leicester claim a dramatic victory over Sale and return to the top of the Premiership.
Vesty was successful from 35 metres out to give Leicester a decisive lead.
Sale, who were kept in touch by 18 points from the boot of Lee Thomas, looked to have grabbed the win with a penalty try three minutes from time.
Tries in each half from flankers Tom Croft and Luke Abraham had kept Leicester ahead early on.
It was Sale who dominated the opening exchanges without breaking down the Leicester defence.
But two penalties and a drop goal from Lee Thomas to a solitary Ian Humphreys kick had Sale in a strong position after the first quarter.
 | It was the first penalty try we've had in my three years here and I had a feeling he would give Leicester the opportunity to win Philippe Saint-Andre,
Sale director of rugby |
An injury to Humphreys saw Dan Hipkiss come on and Vesty move inside to fly-half, and he soon cut the deficit to 9-6 with a penalty.
Leicester flanker Croft then ran in the opening try unchallenged before Thomas' penalty made it 13-12 at the interval.
A Thomas drop goal and a Vesty penalty followed soon after the break before Abraham crossed for Leicester after a strong drive from hooker Gavin Hickie.
Thomas trimmed the lead to 23-18 but missed a third kick of the evening before Sale finally began to come to life.
A Richard Wigglesworth penalty hit the post for the home side before Leicester's Hipkiss was sin-binned, forcing the visitors on the defensive for the final six minutes.
After two successive scrums close to Leicester's line, Sale were awarded a penalty try with three minutes remaining and Rhys Jones converted.
But from the restart, Sale gave up a penalty 35 metres out and Vesty's fifth successful kick from six attempts sealed the win.
Leicester head coach Pat Howard:
"(Vesty) kicked a very good goal. He has been fantastic and he's a very good footballer.
"He stepped in at 10, controlled the game and even though he's not a front-line goal-kicker he stood up and took his chance.
"He really put his hand up. He's got a great temperament, doesn't get frazzled and he's a great student of the game. He'll do what's needed even under pressure."
Sale director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre:
"We made a lot of mistakes and were penalised a lot. We missed tackles and you can see we're not confident. "We had some good ball at the start of the game but we dropped balls. I can't blame my players because they gave everything but we're not a good team at the moment but it's terrible for the players to lose in the last minute.
"It was the first penalty try we've had in my three years here and I had a feeling he would give Leicester the opportunity to win."
Sale: Laharrague, Robinson, Sevealai'i, Bell, Ripol, Thomas, Wigglesworth, Roberts, Bruno, Turner, I. Fernandez Lobbe, Schofield, C. Jones, Lund, Chabal.
Replacements: Titterrell, Stewart, Day, J. Fernandez Lobbe, Foden, R. Jones, Taylor.
Leicester: J. Murphy, Lloyd, Rabeni, Vesty, Varndell, Humphreys, F. Murphy, Ayerza, Hickie, Castrogiovanni, Cullen, Hamilton, T. Croft, Abraham, H. Tuilagi.
Replacements: Buckland, Moreno, L. Deacon, Crane, B. Youngs, A. Tuilagi, Hipkiss.
Referee: Tony Spreadbury (Bristol)
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 