Premiership: Wasps 11-20 Sale Sharks

Luke James scored Sale's only try against Wasps in the second half

Sale leapfrogged Wasps into third place in the Premiership after a 20-11 win at a windswept Ricoh Arena.

Sale cashed in on Wasps' indiscipline to take a 9-6 lead at the interval, AJ MacGinty kicking three penalties, with Jimmy Gopperth slotting two in reply.

Despite Wasps' strong start to the second period MacGinty extended Sale's advantage with two more penalties.

The Sharks were out of sight when Luke James went over after an hour before Jack Willis got a late consolation.

The England hopeful now has six Premiership tries this season - and this was his second since coming out of lockdown.

Having lost at home to leaders Exeter on Saturday, Sale, who were in second place coming out of the coronavirus hiatus, needed a win to ensure they remained in the top four going into the final quarter of the season.

The loss ended a five-game winning run for Wasps, who look likely to drop out of the top four on Wednesday when fifth-placed Bath and sixth-placed Northampton face one another.

The hosts almost crossed Sale's line early in the second half, but the Sharks' defence did well to repel their rivals and set the base for a solid second-half display.

Steve Diamond's side finally broke through with 20 minutes to go when James crossed for the third successive game after a good move down the right from just inside Wasps' 22.

Jimmy Gopperth kicked two Wasps penalties but missed the late conversion that would have earned a losing bonus point

Sale number eight Jono Ross, a late inclusion after Daniel du Preez failed a fitness test, was yellow-carded with five minutes to go after deliberately barging over Ben Vellacott as he chased a kick.

From the resulting penalty Wasps kicked to touch and mauled a line-out up to the Sale line, but Tom Cruse was adjudged to have been held up in goal after a television review.

Wasps kept up the pressure and eventually broke through courtesy of flanker Willis, although Gopperth's missed conversation meant they failed to get a losing bonus point.

Wasps head coach Lee Blackett: "When you're playing in these conditions, discipline is the biggest thing.

"You just can't away penalties so easily. We defended as a whole pretty positively, but we always gave away too many penalties. Sale were good and they managed the referee better."

Sale director rugby Steve Diamond: "Exeter and Bristol have shown they're the top two sides and it's any two of four below them to get in there.

"Exeter showed what they can do last week by giving us a good hiding and Bristol are knocking everyone around. We've got them next up and that will be a massive game.

"We can kick on from this if we get a similar performance to this discipline-wise. Getting into the top top four is a big challenge but if you get in there then home and away isn't as important as previous years as there are no crowds."

Wasps: Minozzi; Kibirige, Fekitoa, Gopperth, Bassett; Umaga, Robson; Harris, Taylor, Toomaga-Allen, Launchbury (capt), Rowlands, J Willis, Young, Shields.

Replacements: Cruse, West, Owlett, Cardall, Vailanu, Vellacott, Atkinson, Mills.

Sale Sharks: L James; Solomona, Doherty, Van Rensburg, Reed; MacGinty, Cliff; Harrison, Langdon, Cooper-Woolley, Postlethwaite, Phillips, Neild, Curry, Ross.

Replacements: Ashman, Morozov, Oosthuizen, JL Du Preez, De Jager, De Klerk, S James, Roebuck.

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