Sale (26) 35
Tries:Wihongi, Brady Cons: Macleod 2 Pens: Macleod 6
Drop-goal: Peel
Newcastle (13) 18
Tries: Wilson 2 Cons: Manning Pens: Manning 2  The speed of Sale's recycling was a crucial element of their win
Sale fly-half Nick Macleod garnered a 22-point haul as the Sharks opened their new Premiership account with a convincing victory over Newcastle. After an early penalty exchange Falcons flanker Brent Wilson scored from a forwards move off a five-metre scrum. Karena Whihongi hit back for Sale before Macleod's kick was gathered by Tom Brady to cross in the corner. After the break Macleod added more points with the boot before Chris Leck's sin-binning let Wilson in again. Sale started much the brighter and had points on the board through Macleod's boot after just 90 seconds as referee Dean Richards proved a harsh judge of any handling on the ground. The hosts were penalised for the same offence shortly after, Falcons fly-half Jeremy Manning equalling the score. Wales under-21 international Macleod added six more points with his boot as Newcastle began to struggle with Sale's quick phases. But it was the visitors who claimed the first try as Wilson went over from a move off a five-metre scrum, Manning slotting a fine touchline conversion to put Newcastle in front for the first time at 10-9. Sale pressed with Dwayne Peel's rapid passes picking out thundering runs by Wihongi and Andrew Sheridan. And it was debutant Wihongi who emerged with the ball from under a pile of bodies for their opening score.  | 606: DEBATE |
Macleod converted for a 16-10 Sharks lead and the former Cardiff Blues man was at the heart of the Sharks' second score. His up and under was too much for Falcons' full-back Alex Tait who spilled the ball and, after he re-gathered it from the ruck, he kicked to the corner for Brady to score on his own debut. Macleod converted, kicking another penalty before Manning added three more points for Newcastle to give Sale a full-deserved 26-13 half-time lead. Falcons replacement fly-half Jimmy Gopperth came on in the second half but to little avail as the Sharks showed no mercy with their uncompromising style. Newcastle's lax defending did not help as they slipped further behind with Macleod's fifth penalty and Peel's drop-goal. Sale scrum-half Leck was sent to the sin-bin seconds after he came on as a replacement for a dangerous tackle and, despite their numerical advantage, Falcons laboured to get Wilson's consolation try.
Sale head coach Mike Brewer: "I am really happy with the intensity. We played at a pace that got away from Newcastle, they couldn't stand the pace. "Our set-piece was poor. "We only had a 33% success rate at the line-out and on all but one of our scrums our scrum was fractured. "You have got to be happy with 35 points against a Newcastle side that came to play but we know we have lots to work on." Newcastle boss Alan Tait: "I have asked the boys if they thought they were outmuscled or outplayed by better players and they said no. "Our mistakes cost us, we were sloppy around the breakdown and we need to get some thing cleared up on the laws there as we seemed to get penalised a lot. "Our ball retention was poor and made a couple of bad decisions. We needed a good blow-out and we got it."
Sale: Williams, Brady, Tonetti, Tuilagi, Cohen, MacLeod, Peel, Sheridan, Briggs, Wihongi, Rouse, Gaskell, Fearns, Seymour, Koyamaibole.
Replacements: M. James for Tuilagi (75), Leck for Peel (65), Croall for Sheridan (55), M. Jones for Briggs (63), Forster for Wihongi (55), Lewaravu for Rouse (70), Cox for Koyamaibole (63). Sin Bin: Leck (65). Newcastle: A. Tait, Bobo, Eves, Henderson, Amesbury, Manning, Pilgrim, Golding, Vickers, Ryan, Hudson, Swinson, B. Wilson, Welch, Hogg.
Replacements: Vickerman for Henderson (55), Gopperth for Manning (40), Young for Pilgrim (51), Brookes for Golding (60), Shiels for Ryan (60), Levi for Swinson (66), Pennycook for Welch (51). Att: 7,815 Ref: D Richards (RFU).
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