European Champions Cup: Sale Sharks 10-24 Saracens

Owen Farrell (left) scored four penalties against Sale, who had Denny Solomona making his debut

Saracens posted a record-equalling 13th straight European victory as they beat Sale Sharks in the Champions Cup.

The defending champions led 6-3 at the break through two penalties from England fly-half Owen Farrell.

Farrell and Nathan Earle crossed late in the second half to open up a 24-3 lead, before Bryn Evans' consolation.

Saracens are eight points clear at the top of Pool Three after Scarlets pulled off a shock 22-21 win against second-placed Toulon earlier in the day.

For the second match in succession, Sale had three players sin-binned against Saracens, but this was a vastly improved display from last week's 50-3 hammering at Allianz Park.

This latest win saw Saracens equal the record of 13 victories in a row held by Munster since 2007.

The game's three tries all came in the last eight minutes, with Farrell going over from close range after a one-handed offload by Will Skelton.

Farrell scored 19 points in total although he missed two straightforward penalties.

Earle added Saracens' second try three minutes from time, touching down a grubber kick, before Evans scored for a Sale side who have lost all four of their games so far and remain without a point.

Solomona makes debut after code swich

Sale fans at least had the consolation of seeing New Zealand wing Denny Solomona in action for the first time after his cross-code switch.

The 23-year-old joined Sale on Tuesday despite having two years left on his deal with Super League side Castleford Tigers.

Despite amassing 42 tries in 29 outings for Castleford last season, he was unable to get among the points-scorers on first rugby union outing.

He came close in the second half when he almost latched on to AJ MacGinty's cross-field kick but the ball bounced just over his shoulder.

Sale: Michael Haley; Denny Solomona, Sam James, Johnny Leota, Josh Charnley; AJ MacGinty, James Mitchell; Ross Harrison, Rob Webber, Halani Aulika, Bryn Evans, Andrei Ostrikov, Cameron Neild, Magnus Lund (capt), TJ Ioane

Replacements: Neil Briggs, James Flynn, Ciaran Parker, Jon Mills, David Seymour, Mike Phillips, Mark Jennings, Tom Arscott

Saracens: Alex Goode; Sean Maitland, Marcelo Bosch, Brad Barritt (capt), Chris Wyles; Owen Farrell, Richard Wigglesworth; Mako Vunipola, Schalk Brits, Petrus du Plessis, Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Michael Rhodes, Schalk Burger, Jackson Wray

Replacements: Jamie George, Richard Barrington, Juan Figallo, Will Skelton, Kelly Brown, Ben Spencer, Alex Lozowski, Nathan Earle

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

Assistants: Mark Patton, Jonathan Peak (both Ireland)

TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)

Citing commissioner: Eugene Ryan (Ireland)