Alex Sanderson outlines stylistic shift at Sale Sharks

Leicester head coach Geoff Parling paid tribute to his side after they secured a place in the PREM Rugby play-off places with an emphatic 47-33 bonus-point victory at Sale.

Parling’s Tigers are shaping up as major title contenders and had too much quality for a Sharks side whose top-four hopes have long since ended.

Leicester departed the CorpAcq Stadium in Salford with their first win at Sale since 2018 and now lie just one point behind Bath with two rounds of the season remaining.

Parling said: “We’ve got to celebrate this win and our destiny is in our own hands.

“We’ve now confirmed in the top four and to win here for the first time since 2018, a place where a lot of the players haven’t won before, is a big moment so let’s enjoy it.

“We were physical and had dominance up front and at times in the first half we were probably trying to shift the ball too much.

“But there were lots of good things during the game, although towards the end of the game we just looked a bit disjointed so credit to Sale for that.”

Leicester captain Ollie Chessum opened the scoring but England team-mate Tom Roebuck replied for Sale before Jamie Blamire added a second try for the visitors.

Tigers number eight Joaquin Moro and Sale flanker Jacques Vermeulen traded tries and Joe Heyes added a fourth for the visitors who went in at half-time with a 28-12 advantage.

The try-fest continued after the break as Leicester ran in further scores from Will Wand, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Archie van der Flier before Sale rallied in the final quarter.

They touched down through captain Ernst van Rhyn, Sam Dugdale and Arron Reed to secure a losing bonus point.

Director of rugby Alex Sanderson took the positives from his side’s strong finish, saying: “Had the game lasted for another 10 minutes, we could have won that.

“I’m never happy with a loss, particularly at home, but the lads never threw in the towel, they dug in and there was a brilliant impact from the bench.

“We played a brand of rugby that we’re going to lean into and get better at.

“Yes, there was frustration during the first half but I was quite excited about where we could take the game, as evidenced by the last 20 minutes.

“I’m quite proud of the boys for digging in as they did against a very good team.”