Sale ease to victory to heap more misery on Exeter
Jonny Hill scored a try against his former club on his first Premiership start since returning from a 10-week ban
- Published
Gallagher Premiership
Sale (14) 28
Tries: James, Carpenter, Penalty, Hill Cons: R du Preez 3
Exeter (3) 10
Try: J Roots Con: Slade Pen: Slade
Sale moved up to fourth in the Premiership as they heaped more misery on winless bottom side Exeter.
Luke James put Sale in front with a try midway through a disjointed first half before Joe Carpenter raced in from inside his own half for Sale's second try just before the break.
Exeter conceded a penalty try 10 minutes after the break as skipper Dafydd Jenkins pulled down a maul from a line-out and was sent to the sin-bin.
The Chiefs weathered things with 14 men and pulled a try back through Jimmy Roots, but former Exeter star Jonny Hill powered over from close range to secure a bonus point.
The loss - a club-record eighth successive Premiership defeat - leaves Exeter rooted to the bottom of the table.
Rob Baxter's side have only won their three Premiership Rugby Cup matches this season having suffered back-to-back European defeats earlier this month.
Henry Slade's early penalty put Exeter ahead in difficult conditions in Greater Manchester, but the Sharks soon began to dominate the territory as they won for the 25th time in 27 home games.
The hosts went ahead when Raffi Quirke's break got them inside the Chiefs' 22 before James received the ball in space and was able to run over.
Exeter's dismal season took a further blow six minutes from the interval when England winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso was forced off with what looked like a shoulder injury.
Slade missed a second penalty soon after and a minute later Carpenter raced in - the full-back picking up a loose ball and sprinting through the gap created in Exeter's defence.
Rob du Preez missed penalties either side of the break before Sale scored their third try as visiting captain Jenkins - making his first start for Exeter this season after returning from injury - was yellow carded.
Roots scored from close range under the posts after Exeter's most effective period of play just after the hour mark.
But Exeter's discipline at the breakdown hurt them again - George Ford kicked a penalty to the corner and 12 phases after the line-out Hill powered in under the posts before Chiefs' Jacques Vermeulen was yellow-carded for an offence in the build-up.
Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson told TNT Sports:
"I'm happy with the five points.
"The lads are a little bit frustrated not capitalising on some of the territory in that first 20-30 minutes.
"But I've told them just to enjoy the win, enjoy Christmas and we'll come back to it for Bristol."
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter told BBC Radio Devon:
"You can't fault the lads for the effort that's going in on the field, they're laying it on the line.
"Can we be better in areas? Of course we can, but we've got to really try to get out of this discipline cycle.
"It sounds quite a lot 28-10, but when you look where two of the scores came from where it went penalty, penalty, penalty, penalty and they score and we're given a yellow card - and we do that twice.
"If you remove those two you're sitting there at 14-10 and going 'this is a pretty tight, pressure game and we're right in it.'
"We've got to somehow break the cycle."
Sale: Carpenter; Roebuck, R du Preez, James, Reed; Ford, Quirke; Rodd, Cowan-Dickie, Opoku-Fordjour, van Rhyn, Hill, J-L du Preez, B Curry (capt), D du Preez.
Replacements: McElroy, McIntyre, John, Bamber, Dugdale, Warr, Nayacalevu, O'Flaherty.
Exeter: Wyatt; Feyi-Waboso, Hammersley, Tua, Woodburn; Slade, Townsend; Sio, Frost, Street, Jenkins (capt), Molina, E Roots, Vintcent, Fisilau.
Replacements: Innard, Blose, J Roots, Capstick, Vermeulen, Becconsall, Haydon-Wood, Hodge.
Yellow card: Jenkins (50) Vermeulen (71)
Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe