George Ford kicked 14 points off the tee as Leicester Tigers defeated the Premiership’s bottom side Sale Sharks 19-15 at Welford Road.
The Sharks began well and went 5-0 in front through Marland Yarde before the Midlanders responded when Kyle Eastmond crossed the line and Ford kicked two penalties.
That gave Leicester a 13-5 advantage at the break but that was reduced when Rob Webber went over for Sale. However, Ford eased the nerves with a couple more three-pointers to complete a crucial victory for Geordan Murphy’s team.
Curtis Langdon did go over to rescue a losing bonus-point but the visitors have now lost four of their five matches in the Premiership.
Both sides have endured difficult starts to the season but it was the Sharks who opened the brighter and scored first via a well-constructed effort.
Will Cliff’s chip through was gathered by Denny Solomona and good interplay between the wing, Tom Curry and Andrei Ostrikov took play inside the 22. Sam James then found Byron McGuigan, who duly fed Yarde to touch down.
Back came Leicester, however, as they displayed their quality in attack. The Tigers have not struggled to score points, particularly at home, and Ford was creating opportunities on the gain line.
The Sharks’ defence eventually succumbed when Gareth Owen carried hard and off-loaded for Eastmond to finish. Ford kicked the conversion and then added a brace of penalties as the Midlanders went into the interval 13-5 in front.
It had been a dire first half and the start of the second period was similarly mistake-ridden, with the Greater Manchester outfit losing possession when two metres out. The hosts also had the odd chance but too often errors prevented the sides from gaining any continuity.
However, it was the visitors who were beginning to get on top and they were eventually rewarded in the final quarter. Steve Diamond’s men had not scored a point in the last 20 minutes of matches before this game, but they finally broke that duck through Webber’s try off the back of a maul.
It set-up a tense finale, despite Ford briefly easing the Tigers’ nerves, as Sale pushed for a score which could potentially win them the game, but they conceded a late penalty which the hosts’ pivot converted to secure the victory.
Langdon touched down for the Sharks in the final minute to give them a losing bonus-point but it was another poor day at the office for Diamond’s charges.
The scorers:
For Leicester:
Try: Eastmond
Con: Ford
Pens: Ford 4
For Sale:
Tries: Yarde, Webber, Langdon
Leicester: 15 Jordan Olowofela, 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Gareth Owen, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben White, 8 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Guy Thompson, 6 David Denton, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Mike Williams, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Greg Bateman
Replacements: 16 Ross McMillan, 17 David Feao, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Harry Wells, 20 Valentino Mapapalangi, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Tom Hardwick, 23 Jonah Holmes
Sale: 15 Byron McGuigan, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Luke James, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 Sam James, 9 Will Cliff, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Jono Ross (c), 5 Andrei Ostrikov, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 WillGriff John, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Ross Harrison
Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Alexandru Tarus, 18 Joe Jones, 19 James Phillips, 20 Josh Beaumont, 21 Ben Curry, 22 Gus Warr, 23 Rohan Janse van Rensburg
Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys
Assistant referees: Adam Leal, Paul Dix
TMO: Stuart Terheege