Premiership: Wasps 19-20 Sale - Sharks survive four yellow cards to secure late win

Josh Beaumont secured an unlikely win for Alex Sanderson's Sale

Josh Beaumont's late try helped Sale edge past Wasps, despite having four players sin-binned in the second half.

Akker van der Merwe's early try was cancelled out soon after by Malakai Fekitoa, as Rob du Preez kicked two penalties to one from Jimmy Gopperth.

Gopperth landed three more second-half penalties as Sale received four yellow cards in the space of 22 minutes.

But Wasps failed to make short-handed Saled pay and Beaumont's try and Rob du Preez's conversion secured victory.

Sale's win was the first any side have ever managed in the Premiership after four yellow cards - and it moves the Sharks up to third place after Harlequins lost at Bristol.

Last season's beaten finalists Wasps are now ninth after their losing bonus point, but a fifth loss in six games all but ends any outside hopes of a play-off place.

Akker van der Merwe went over for Sale's first try at the Ricoh Arena

Van der Merwe did well come off the blindside of a maul and power in for the Sharks after 12 minutes, but his side's lead lasted just three minutes when a wonderful long pass from Gopperth released Josh Bassett, who fed Fekitoa to score.

Sale were reduced to 14 men for the first time when Luke James was sin-binned for a high tackle on Bassett, who was slipping as the pair made contact, and Gopperth landed a penalty a few minutes later before Van der Merwe was sin-binned for a high tackle on Michael le Bourgeois.

Byron McGuigan's deliberate knock-on shortly after James had returned to the field saw Gopperth send over another penalty as Sale went back down to 13 for a couple of minutes, while a fourth yellow card came with 11 minutes left when AJ MacGinty deliberately knocked on and Gopperth again successfully went for the posts.

But Wasps never created a clear-cut chance to score a try, while at the other end Dan du Preez knocked on as he went for the hosts' line from close range with seven minutes left.

And, when Wasps' Gabriel Oghre hauled down a maul with three minutes left and got Wasps' first yellow card, Sale made no mistake from the resulting short-range line-out as their forwards powered over for a fourth win in five games.

Wasps head coach Lee Blackett:

"We put ourselves in a position to win but there have been a lot of tight games recently where we've come out on the wrong end. They had a couple of opportunities close to our line. They took two of them and we didn't take our opportunities.

"We should have been in a position midway through the second half where we were too far ahead for them to come back in but we allowed them to stay in the game.

"We shouldn't be lacking confidence, we know what qualities we've got. When guys are desperate to get back to winning, you start to get more nervous, and that's how we look at times."

Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson:

"It's unbelievable. I thought we'd sealed the game for Wasps there. We're trying to build belief, a northern grit with South African steel, and that brought us through.

"In every game there's a sin-bin. We had four. We're top of the leaderboard by some way so we've got to sort that out.

"It's a really fine line, that intensity, that aggression and the discipline. What I don't want to do is take anything away from this emotive, physical team that I'm lucky to be a part of, but we've got to get better discipline-wise."

Wasps: Minozzi; Kibirige, Fekitoa, Le Bourgeois, Bassett; Gopperth, Robson; Harris, Taylor, Brookes, Launchbury, Rowlands, Shields, Young, Barbeary.

Replacements: Oghre, Owlett, Toomaga-Allen, Vukasinovic, Vailanu, Wolstenholme, Atkinson, Odogwu.

Sin-bin: Oghre (77)

Sale: L James; McGuigan, James, Van Rensburg, Yarde; R du Preez, Quirke; Rodd, Van der Merwe, Oosthuizen, Beaumont, Wiese, JC du Preez, Neild, D du Preez.

Replacements: Ashman, Harrison, John, Phillips, Dugdale, Cliff, MacGinty, Hammersley.

Sin-bin: L James (48), van der Merwe (55), McGuigan (60), MacGinty (69).

Referee: Christophe Ridley (RFU).

• Rugby Weekly Union podcast - listen and subscribe here

• Wooden keys and prison breaks: Radio 1's Screen Time chats to Daniel Radcliffe

• The Fight of the Century - Ali v Frazier: 'From a friendly rivalry to an almost pathological hatred'