| Sale Sharks 27 (8) |
| Tries: D du Preez 2, JL du Preez, Reed Cons: MacGinty 2 Pen: MacGinty |
| London Irish 27 (7) |
| Tries: Hepetema, Stokes, B Janse van Rensburg, Phipps Cons: Jackson 2 Pen: Jackson |
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 with 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 as the sides finished 31-31 at the Brentford Community Stadium back in September.
It took over 30 minutes for any points to be scored before Lucio 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 with Jean-Luc du Preez grabbing the 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, with Phipps diving over after picking up from the back of a maul.
But Exiles fly-half Jackson failed to add the conversion and did not land the penalty from inside his own half that would have won them the game.
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
