Premiership: Sale 27-27 London Irish - Late Phipps try grabs Exiles draw

James Stokes of London Irish and Sale's Arron Reed were two of the try-scorers in the 27-27 draw

The points were shared between Sale Sharks and London Irish after an eight-try thriller at the AJ Bell Stadium.

A late try from Exiles scrum-half Nick Phipps salvaged the draw, their fourth of the season, but Paddy Jackson missed a last-minute penalty to win it.

Two tries from Dan du Preez, one from twin brother Jean-Luc and a fourth from Arron Reed had put Sale 27-22 up.

The visitors' earlier scores had come from Terrence Hepetema, James Stokes and Benhard Janse van Rensburg.

Both sides pick up three points each, two for the draw and one bonus point for scoring four tries, which was enough to move the Exiles into the top four and edge Sale up one place into sixth.

Remarkably the reverse fixture also ended in a draw when the two sides finished 31-31 at the Brentford Community Stadium back in September.

Sale Sharks' Dan du Preez (pictured) and his twin brother Jean-Luc accounted for three of his side's four tries

It took over 30 minutes for any points to be scored before Cinti Luna's scintillating break allowed Hepetema to go under the posts.

But, with Stokes yellow carded for a trip, Dan du Preez powered over before a MacGinty penalty put the hosts in front at half-time.

The second half was full of incident as a Jackson penalty put the Exiles back in front straight away, before the Sharks again used their man advantage when Jean-Luc du Preez grabbed a try.

But within minutes of re-entering the field, Stokes went over in the corner to level the scores.

When flanker Olly Cracknell was sent to the sin-bin, Sale's power was too much for the 14 men as Dan du Preez scored his second try of the night.

But again London Irish responded with replacement Benhard Janse van Rensburg going over in the corner.

However, home winger Reed looked to have grabbed the decisive score - and his side's fourth try - only for London Irish to regroup once they were back up to 15, when Phipps dived over after picking up from the back of a maul.

But Exiles fly-half Jackson failed to add the conversion and then did not land a penalty attempt from inside his own half that would have won them the game.

Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson:

"I couldn't be prouder of the intent and the effort of the lads to come from behind, hen to keep coming back and to keep scrapping, If you've got those things at the core of your team, which we seem to have over the last four or five weeks, you're in a good spot.

"There was a level of intensity throughout that game. I didn't think it dipped at all. There were chances for both teams in the first half which weren't taken, but in the second half they were.

"It was just a case of better execution. I'm pretty buoyant. We asked for work, we asked for physicality. I'm happy with their effort and intensity. We're continuing the momentum we're building."

London Irish head coach Les Kiss:

"They've got an imposing home record so to get three points I'm very happy. You don't come here and take points easily off this team.

"There's a little bit of mixed emotions as we've played the attacking rugby we like. We just didn't put another one over the line and Paddy missed a couple of kicks, but those things happen.

"We've got to pack away the good things that came out of it. They scored their tries when we had the yellows, so discipline was costly, but it's not a habit of ours. We've been a disciplined team most of the time, so we'll have a look at it."

Sale: S James; Roebuck, R Du Preez, R Janse van Rensburg, Reed; MacGinty, De Klerk; McIntyre, Langdon, Oosthuizen, JL Du Preez, De Jager, Ross (capt) Curry, D Du Preez

Replacements: Taylor, Harrison, Jones, Wiese, Nield, Quirke, Doherty, McGuigan

London Irish: Stokes; Cinti, Rona, Hepetema, Hassell-Collins; Jackson, Phipps (capt); Goodrick-Clarke, Creevy, Van der Merwe, Munga, Simmons, Cracknell, Pearson, Tuisue

Replacements: Cornish, Gigena, Hoskins, Cooke, Gonzalez, O'Sullivan, B Janse van Rensburg, Rowe

Sin-bin: Stokes (37), Cracknell (55)

Referee: Andrew Jackson

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