Sale Sharks responded from last week’s loss to Harlequins with a 21-15 Premiership win over Worcester Warriors at AJ Bell Stadium on Sunday.
First-half tries from Josh Beaumont and Denny Solomona saw them to the four points while AJ MacGinty slotted 11 points off the kicking tee.
For Worcester it was a game of two halves as they were poor in the first but scored two in the second through Bryce Heem and Chris Pennell.
Sale took the lead as early as the seventh minute thanks to a penalty from MacGinty, this coming after Francois Venter had strayed offside.
It was all the Sharks in the opening quarter and eventually the try came on 20 minutes as a poor pass out to wing Marland Yarde saw number eight Beaumont wrap around his team-mate for the crossing on the left wing. MacGinty could not add the extras but Sale were looking strong.
They almost added to their lead five minutes later but tighthead prop WillGriff John lost the ball over the line after a short-range carry.
However a further three points from MacGinty after Marco Mama came offside and then intercept try from Solomona saw Sale into an 18-0 lead.
To their credit Worcester finished the half strongly as they set up camp in the Sharks’ 22. But even 38 phases couldn’t result in any score.
Heem changed that in the 48th minute when he powered over Will Cliff from close range to cut the scoreline to 18-7 with plenty of time left.
Worcester scrum-half Jonny Arr came agonisingly close to doubling his side’s tally when he reached out for the post protector shortly after. However, referee JP Doyle adjudged him to have not made it so the Warriors had to settle for three points from Duncan Weir for an offside.
MacGinty did respond two minutes later from distance to make it 21-10 to Sale. But Worcester then continued their dominance of the second-half when Josh Adams’ superb offload after another 38-phase attack saw Pennell dive over on the right. The Warriors were now 21-15 adrift.
Sale though managed to hold on for the victory which is their first of the campaign while for Worcester it’s back-to-back league defeats.
The scorers:
For Sale:
Tries: Beaumont, Solomona
Con: MacGinty
Pens: MacGinty 3
For Worcester:
Tries: Heem, Pennell
Con: Weir
Pen: Weir
Sale: 15 Byron McGuigan, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Sam James, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Will Cliff, 8 Josh Beaumont, 7 Ben Curry, 6 Jono Ross (c), 5 James Phillips, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 WillGriff John, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Ross Harrison
Replacements: 16 Cameron Neild, 17 Alexandru Tarus, 18 Joe Jones, 19 George Nott, 20 Josh Strauss, 21 Gus Warr, 21 Luke James, 23 Paolo Odogwu
Worcester: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Bryce Heem, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Jonny Arr, 8 GJ van Velze (c), 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Marco Mama, 5 Darren Barry, 4 Pierce Phillips, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Niall Annett, 1 Callum Black
Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Ryan Bower, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 Andrew Kitchener, 20 Alafoti Faosiliva, 21 Michael Heaney, 22 Jono Lance, 23 Ashley Beck
Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant referees: Hamish Smales, Paul Dix
Television match official: Keith Lewis