Gloucester (8) 24
Tries: Foster, Satala Cons: Barkley Pens: Barkley 3 Drop goals: Lamb
Sale (17) 17
Tries: Thomas, Hodgson Cons: Hodgson 2 Pens: Hodgson

Barkley weighed in with 11 crucial points for Gloucester

Gloucester extended their lead at the top of the Premiership with victory over title rivals Sale at Kingsholm.

Sale looked in control when Lee Thomas went over and, despite Mark Foster's reply, Charlie Hodgson touched down to give them a 17-8 half-time lead.

But Apo Satala crossed just after the break and Olly Barkley's penalty put Gloucester ahead for the first time.

Ryan Lamb's drop goal sealed the win which, with London Irish losing, sent them four points clear in the table.

Sale opened the scoring after seven minutes when Hodgson landed a 27-metre penalty.

Thomas took a pass off Chris Bell to race 20 metres to the posts and give Hodgson the easiest of conversions.

Gloucester's first serious attack on the Sale line after 20 minutes got them their first points through a Barkley penalty from 25 metres.

But Gloucester sparked into action late in the first half with Foster finishing off a fine attack, started by Iain Balshaw and Satala before the ball was sprayed across the back division to the left corner.

606: DEBATE Give your reaction to Gloucester's victory over Sale

Thomas was yellow-carded for a late tackle but the visitors defied their numerical disadvantage when Chris Jones intercepted Barkley's pass on his own 22.

He charged towards halfway and fed Bell, who offloaded for Hodgson to run in from 30 metres. Hodgson's conversion handed Sale their nine-point lead at the interval.

However, within seconds of the restart Gloucester powered over the Sale line for a second time.

A move down the left saw James Simpson-Daniel flick to flanker Satala and the Fijian charged under the posts from 20 metres.

Barkley's second penalty gave the hosts a 18-17 advantage and, with new recruit Carlos Spencer orchestrating their attacks, they never looked back.

Barkley missed three long-range penalties inside 12 minutes but when Sale's replacement lock Brent Cockbain was sent to the sin-bin for killing the ball he found the target with the 25-metre penalty.

The England centre's 35-metre penalty fell short near the end but a 30-metre drop goal from Lamb, Spencer's replacement at fly-half, finished Sale off.

Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan:
"I was really pleased with Carlos Spencer and Olly Barkley and the relationship that is growing off that.

"Carlos has looked sharp for a week, I would not have played him otherwise. He has come in deliberately just to change the dynamics and he has done that. At the same time, he has lifted people which fits quite neatly into what we are trying to do.

"There are elements that we will talk about on Monday and things he could have done better but we will also show the seven or eight things that he brings to us. It is an understanding because his brain works at a million miles an hour."

Sale head coach Kingsley Jones:
"It's a game we certainly could have won and there are not many teams who can come to Kingsholm and say that.

"We needed to play it for more than 30 minutes. In the second half, we simply made too many errors. We have played what is put in front of us.

"We fell off a couple of tackles in the game which I'm disappointed about, but there we go."

Gloucester: Balshaw, Foster, Watkins, Barkley, Simpson-Daniel, Spencer, R. Lawson, Wood, Azam, Somerville, James, Brown, Satala, Hazell, Delve, Lamb.

Replacements: Sharples for Watkins (28), Allen for Simpson-Daniel (65), Lamb for Spencer (68), Eustace for James (69), Titterrell for Lamb (71).

Not Used: Forster, Williams.

Sale: McLeod, Bell, McAlister, Thomas, Ripol, Hodgson, Wigglesworth, Roberts, Bruno, Turner, Schofield, Cox, C. Jones, Abraham, Fernandez Lobbe.

Replacements: Kuadey for Ripol (50), Briggs for Bruno (57), Cockbain for Cox (57), M. Jones for Abraham (69).

Not Used: O'Donnell, Leck, Keil.

Sin Bin: Cockbain (61).

Att: 13,466

Ref: Martin Fox (RFU).

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