Harlequins sink Sale

Harlequins scored two unanswered tries to beat Sale 21-9 at Twickenham Stoop in the Aviva Premiership on Saturday.

Harlequins bounced back from last weekend's defeat at Exeter with a comfortable victory that reawakened Sale's relegation fears.

Quins fly-half Rory Clegg produced a fine display to guide his team around the field and landed 11 points with the boot.

The hosts also claimed tries through hooker Joe Gray and full-back Mike Brown as the struggling Sharks slipped to their ninth defeat of the season.

The result gave Quins their 10th win from 11 matches and did no favours for Sale, who lie just 11 points above bottom club Leeds Carnegie.

Clegg booted Harlequins ahead with a well-struck penalty in the seventh minute and soon after they claimed their first try when Gray touched down after some woeful Sale defending.

Clegg converted and three minutes later Brown went over when he collected his own kick to touch down.

Clegg failed to convert and Sale got off the mark in the 34th minute when England fly-half Charlie Hodgson booted a penalty.

However, another penalty from Clegg stretched Quins' lead before the break and shortly after the restart Hodgson kicked his second penalty.

Yet Clegg landed his third three-pointer of the match in the 45th minute as Quins remained largely in the ascendancy.

Hodgson landed another penalty in the 73rd minute but the visitors showed precious little as an attacking force and the hosts' line was rarely threatened.

Sale wing Ben Cohen and Quins centre George Lowe were sinbinned after clashing in the closing stages.

The scorers:

For Harlequins:
Tries:Gray, Brown
Cons:Cleg
Pens:Cleg 3

For Sale Sharks:
Pens:Hodgson 3

Yellow cards: Cohen (sale 79th min); Lowe (Harlequins - 79th min)

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Gonzalo Camacho, 13 George Lowe, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Rory Clegg, 9 Danny Care, 8 Chris Robshaw (capt), 7 Will Skinner, 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 5 Pete Browne, 4 Ollie Kohn, 3 James Johnston, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Chris Brooker, 17 Ceri Jones, 18 Mark Lambert, 19 Tomas Vallejos, 20 Chris York, 21 Dave Moore, 22 Ben Urdapilleta, 23 Tom Williams.

Sale: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Chris Bell, 12 Kyle Tonetti, 11 Ben Cohen, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Will Cliff, 8 Sisaro Koyamaibole, 7 Carl Fearns, 6 James Gaskell, 5 Wame Lewaravu, 4 Chris Jones, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements: 16 Ben Roberts, 17 Lee Imiolek, 18 Jack Forster, 19 Sean Cox, 20 Neil McMillan, 21 Chris Leck, 22 Anitelea Tuilagi, 23 Will Addison.

Venue: Twickenham Stoop