Sale leapfrog Bristol in hunt for play-off spot

Sale finished second in the Premiership in 2023 and third last season

Gallagher Premiership

Sale (20) 41

Tries: D du Preez, McElroy, Hill, Ma'asi-White, Quirke Cons: Ford 5 Pens: Ford 2

Bristol (5) 27

Tries: Randall, Mata, Naulago, Byrne, Ravouvou Con: Williams

Sale Sharks moved a step closer towards securing a Premiership play-off spot with a bonus-point victory over top-four rivals Bristol Bears.

Sale move up to third, one point ahead of fourth-placed Bristol, both with one game left to play on 31 May.

A bonus-point victory in Sale's final match away to lowly Exeter Chiefs would secure a play-off spot for a third consecutive season.

George Ford contributed 16 points and a 100% success rate with the boot for the hosts, while there were five different try scorers in Dan du Preez, Tadgh McElroy, Jonny Hill, Rekeiti Ma'asi-White and Raffi Quirke.

Bristol had looked well beaten, but they produced a strong late rally to come away with a bonus point themselves as they ran in five tries.

Harry Randall crossed in the first half, then Viliame Mata, Siva Naulago and crucially Harry Byrne and Kalaveti Ravouvou in the last three minutes.

Bristol remain fourth but they could be overtaken if Saracens win at Northampton Saints on Saturday.

Sharks too powerful early on

Sale were smarting from a narrow loss at second-placed Leicester Tigers seven days earlier and began with a spring in their step.

An early Ford penalty had the hosts in front and their attack had been threatening to break through Bristol's defensive line, but it took until the 23rd minute for the first try.

Wave after wave of attacks had been repelled but the Sharks eventually worked the space for Ben Curry to send over number eight Du Preez in the corner.

The visitors had spent little time in the opposition half, but showed exactly what they are about with a brilliant opportunist score from Randall.

The 27-year-old scrum-half spotted a gap between two forwards and a burst of pace and a superb line took him over for the try, a reminder of why he will be in contention to start England's Tests in Argentina and USA this summer.

But it was an isolated moment in a half dominated by Alex Sanderson's side as after another three points from Ford, more pressure ended with Irish hooker McElroy burrowing over.

Bears cut loose late on

Bristol sent on three replacement forwards at half-time, including their sole Lions player, Ellis Genge and were rewarded with their first spell of sustained pressure and a try for number eight Mata.

However, Sale's response was emphatic as second row Hill, whose departure at the end of the season was announced this week, was simply unstoppable in charging over from five metres out.

Naulago scored a classic winger's try in the corner to keep Bristol interested, but the all-important fourth try arrived from centre Ma'asi-White with Sale's power and speed too much to handle.

Replacement Quirke then capped an excellent team display with a superb individual score, as he showed his electric ability at number nine.

However, Bristol were desperate for something to take back to the West Country and their trademark fast-and-loose rugby had its reward in the last five minutes.

Byrne got the bonus-point score and Ravouvou added another try and with play-off spots possibly decided by points difference, it was a useful show of defiance.

Sale Sharks director of rugby Alex Sanderson:

"The last few minutes leaves a sour taste after being really good for 75 minutes but we had a lot of changes, a couple of HIAs and I wanted to get a couple of young lads on, so I'm partially to blame.

"The last home game for Exeter, home crowd, I don't see them as anything other than quite a dangerous team in that scenario.

"The Premiership has shown this year if anyone is slightly off it by ways of mentality and the other team is on it, you get a hiding to nothing.

"But I am already pumped and excited for it, I just need to keep a lid on it."

Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam:

"For us the intention up here was to be in the fight as whenever we have beaten Sale, we have been in the fight at half-time.

"So we had a kicking game but we didn't execute it anywhere near as good as George Ford did.

"We also got stung 9-1 on the penalty count, which is huge. And we went in at half-time, 15 points down, which wasn't the plan.

"The plan was to come on strong in the last 20 minutes as we knew we could have a real go, but the scoreboard pressure was too great."

Sale: Carpenter; Roebuck, R du Preez, Ma'asi-White, O'Flaherty; Ford, Warr; Rodd, McElroy, Opoku-Fordjour, van Rhyn, Hill, JL du Preez, B Curry, D du Preez.

Replacements: Longstaff, McIntyre, John, Bamber, Dugdale, Quirke, Bedlow, Wills.

Bristol: Lane, Ravouvou, Janse van Rensburg, Williams, Ibitoye; MacGinty, Randall; Woolmore, Oghre, Kloska, Caulfield, Batley, Grondona, Harding, Mata.

Replacements: Capon, Genge, Lahiff, Dun, Owen, Marmion, Byrne, Naulago.

Referee: Adam Leal