Sale 27-13 Leicester

Sale (17) 3
Tries: Cueto, Tait, Lamont Con: McAlister 3 Pens: McAlister 2

Leicester (3) 13
Tries: Mauger Con: Dupuy Pens: Dupuy 2

Leicester's Aaron Mauger scores against Sale

Mauger scored for Leicester after the break but Sale hung on

Sale underlined their title prospects with a hard-fought win over Leicester to climb into second place in the Guinness Premiership.

The Sharks scored tries through Mark Cueto and Mathew Tait for a 17-0 lead after 30 minutes.

Leicester hit back after the break when Aaron Mauger touched down but Sale held on despite the sin-binning of David Doherty in the final quarter.

And Rory Lamont added a third try for the Sharks shortly before the end.

Sale took the lead after 10 minutes with a breakaway try from out of favour England winger Cueto when he seized on a mistake by Leicester full-back Geordan Murphy just inside his own half.

He raced 50 metres to touch down for a try converted by Luke McAlister and the hosts added a second try in the 18th minute.

Hodgson found Cueto with a neat short offload on the right side of the field, around 20 metres out, and although the winger's progress was halted, Sale's pack drove Tait over the line to score.

McAlister again added the extras and then claimed a penalty to send Sale 17-0 ahead in the 29th minute before Leicester finally got off the mark with a penalty from Julien Dupuy five minutes later.

Hodgson, despite his influence, was withdrawn after half-time after complaining of flu symptoms which had affected him in the build-up to the game.

He was replaced by Dwayne Peel, who went to scrum-half while Richard Wigglesworth deputised for Hodgson at 10.

Leicester came back strongly after the break and Mauger found the space to weave his way through a static Sale defence to touch down in the 47th minute.

Dupuy converted to cut the gap to 10 points with over half an hour remaining but McAlister landed his second penalty on the hour mark.

Sale were forced to dig deep when Doherty was shown a yellow card with 13 minutes remaining but they rounded things off when Lamont hacked forward a loose ball from the halfway line in the last minute.

He touched down and McAlister converted as Sale climbed to second behind Bath in the table.

Sale director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre:
"The first half was a very, very good performance - the best in the Premiership this season.

"We had opportunities to maybe score another try and also missed two penalties. We had a lot of chances. But in the second half we didn't have the ball enough, and Leicester are a good team.

"They attacked the line and came back strongly, but the defence was fantastic. We scored three tries, denied Leicester a bonus point and have now won six of our eight Guinness Premiership matches this season. That's not too bad."

Leicester head coach Heyneke Meyer:
"We always had to chase the game, because we weren't smart enough in the first half.

"In the second half we played most of the rugby. But when you don't take your chances and can't defend turnovers you're always going to be chasing the game.

"We expect to win every single game that we play. We're playing much better rugby at the moment - but ultimately it is what is on the scoreboard that counts."

Sale: R Lamont; Cueto, M Tait, McAlister, Doherty; Hodgson, Wigglesworth; Faure, M Jones, Roberts, Chabal, Schofield, White, Briggs, Fernandez Lobbe.

Replacements: Bell for M Tait (59), Peel for Hodgson (40), O'Donnell for Faure (77), Fearns for M. Jones (74), Turner for Roberts (62), Cockbain for Schofield (72).

Not Used: Tuilagi.

Sin Bin: Doherty (60).

Leicester: G Murphy; J Murphy, Rabeni, Mauger, Smith; Hougaard, Dupuy; Ayerza, Chuter, Cole, Corry, Kay, B Deacon, Moody, Crane.

Replacements: Hamilton for Hougaard (44), Kayser for Chuter (57), Wentzel for Kay (66), Newby for B Deacon (50).

Not Used: Bonorino, B Youngs, Varndell.

Att: 9,586

Ref: Chris White (RFU).