Scotland centre John Leslie ran in two tries as Newcastle once again proved
they are a force to be reckoned with.
Having beaten Northampton and lost narrowly to champions Leicester, the
Falcons battled hard to defeat a Sale side which had already beaten both Bath
and Gloucester.
Very little separated the two sides in the first half and it was Jonny
Wilkinson who broke the deadlock after 10 minutes with a penalty, but this was
cancelled out at the other end 15 minutes later by Sale's Niki Little.
Newcastle full-back - and star of the future - Michael Stephenson was in
dazzling form making a string of incisive runs which kept the Sale's defence
busy but it was a timely tackle on Sale's second row Guy Manson-Bishop which
turned the game Newcastle's way.
Stephenson prevented a certain try and from the resulting possession Leslie
found the gap to score under the posts and Wilkinson added the extras.
Little added a second penalty just before the interval and two minutes after
the re-start new Sale prop forward Adam Black stunned the Newcastle defence when
be barged his way over the line and Little's conversion gave Sale a two-point
lead.
The Falcons slowly started to dominate and once Wilkinson added a penalty on
70 minutes there was no going back.
With three minutes remaining Hugh Vyvyan, whose brother Charles was once a
Sale favourite, got on the end of a neat pass to run clear under the posts and
Wilkinson was again on target with the conversion.
As the game entered injury time Sale threw away a valuable point when they
gave away possession in front of the post and Leslie claimed try number two.
Teams:
Sale:
Tries: Black.
Cons: Little.
Pens: Little 2.
Sale: Going, Moore, Shaw, Deane, Hanley,
Little, Redpath,Black, Clark, Thiel, Manson-Bishop, Whittle, Anglesea,
Appleyard, Sanderson.
Replacements: Davidson for Moore (14), Harris for Deane (63),
Winstanley for Black (71), Rusk for Clark (51),
Lines for Manson-Bishop (69), Morris for Appleyard (67).
Not Used: Hatley.
Sin Bin: Anglesea (40), Appleyard (57).
Newcastle:
Tries: Leslie 2, Vyvyan.
Cons: Wilkinson 3.
Pens: Wilkinson 2.
Newcastle: Stephenson, Botham, May, Leslie, Tuigamala,
Wilkinson, Armstrong, Graham, Nesdale, Hurter, Weir, Grimes,
Arnold, Mower, Jenner.
Replacements: Noon for May (40), Peel for Hurter (24),
Vyvyan for Weir (69), Beattie for Arnold (45).
Not Used: Balshen, Massey, Charlton.
Sin Bin: Mower (40).
Att: 2,885
Ref: John Barnard (RFU).
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