Cipriani shines as Sale beat Falcons

Sale secured their third successive Premiership victory when they beat Newcastle 18-13 at Kingston Park on Sunday.

In an entertaining match, Newcastle got the scoring off to a start in the first half with a try for Juan Pablo Socino and there was also a penalty for Rory Clegg.

Captain Dan Braid got a try for Sale and Danny Cipriani also got a penalty but the missed conversion meant that the score was 10-8 at half time.

Clegg claimed another penalty for Newcastle and their only points of the second half. Sale secured the win with a try for Johnny Leota and another penalty for Cipriani in what was an extremely close game the whole way through.

The Falcons first try came after the Sale defence failed to wrap up Socino and he danced through them to crash over the line. Sale replied with their own try ten minutes later courtesy of Braid.

The flanker found a gap in the corner and put the ball down over the line. Clegg gave his team further breathing space with a successful penalty but Sale were then unlucky to have a try controversially disallowed.

Cipriani managed to claim some extra points for his team with a penalty but he then failed to get the two teams on equal points, missing another penalty on 40 minutes, leaving the score at 10-8 at half time.

Newcastle got the first points of the second half with a penalty for Clegg and he gave the home side a five point advantage. However, Cipriani soon got his team back closer to the Falcons with another penalty of his own.

It was an extremely close fought battle between the two teams and there really was nothing between them until Sale finally found the try line.

A superb chip kick and collect by Cipriani put the Sharks in an excellent position and the passes eventually found Leota who had the pace to out run the Falcons defenders and he crashed over the line.

Both teams continued to fight hard but in the end, it was heartbreak for the home side and Sale left with the points, the game finished 13-18 to the Sharks.

The scorers:

For Newcastle:
Tries: Socino
Con: Clegg
Pens: Clegg 2

For Sale:
Tries: Braid, Leota
Cons: Cipriani
Pens: Cipriani 2

Newcastle: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Sinoti Sinoti, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Rory Clegg, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Ally Hogg, 7 Andy Saull, 6 Mark Wilson, 5 Dom Barrow, 4 Calum Green, 3 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 2 George McGuigan, 1 Rob Vickers.
Replacements: 16 Alex Rogers, 17 Eric Fry, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Kane Thompson, 20 Josh Furno, 21 Warren Fury, 22 Adam Powell, 23 Simon Hammersley.

Sale: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Luke McLean, 13 Jonny Leota, 12 Sammy Tuitupou, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 Josh Beaumont, 7 Magnus Lund, 6 Dan Braid (c), 5 Andrei Ostrikov, 4 Jonathan Mills, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Eifion Lewis Roberts.
Replacements: 16 Shalva Mamukashvili, 17 Alberto de Marchi, 18 Ross Harrison, 19 Mark Easter, 20 Viliami Fihaki, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Nick Macleod, 23 Mark Jennings.

Referee: Dean Richards