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George Ford boots Sale into Champions Cup last eight at Harlequins
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George Ford’s goal-kicking proved the difference as his 16 points was enough to secure Sale a quarter-final spot in the Investec Champions Cup with a 26-17 victory at Harlequins.
His accuracy with the boot saw Sharks build up a 26-5 lead before Quins staged a late rally, but Sale’s advantage was insurmountable.
Luke Cowan-Dickie scored Sale’s tries, with George Ford converting both and adding four penalties.
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Alex Dombrandt scored two tries for Harlequins and Chandler Cunningham-South also crossed, with Marcus Smith adding a conversion.
Harlequins dominated the early exchanges and came close to opening the scoring when Dombrandt quickly took a penalty but the skipper was held up over the line.
Sale were able to relieve the pressure by winning three penalties in quick succession, the last of which saw Ford hit a post with a straightforward kick.
As a result, a largely featureless first quarter finished scoreless apart from Quins losing centre Luke Northmore to a failed Head Injury Assessment.
He was replaced by Welsh international fly-half Jarrod Evans, and in time to see the visitors take the lead with a penalty from Ford.
Once again Sale dropped the kick-off but they regrouped for Tom O’Flaherty to dash down the left flank and win a penalty for Ford to make no mistake.
It was then Sale’s turn to lose a player to injury when prop Bevan Rodd was helped off in considerable pain with a shoulder injury.
However, Sharks were becoming increasingly dominant and were rewarded with a third penalty from Ford.
The home side continued to offend with flanker Will Evans sin-binned for persistent team infringements, and Sale immediately capitalised when Cowan-Dickie finished off a driving line-out.
Quins badly needed a response and looked to have got one when Nick David squeezed his way over in the corner but Television Match Official replays showed an earlier foot in touch from the full-back.
As a result, Sale led 16-0 at the interval and that advantage was soon extended with a fourth penalty from Ford.
Quins changed three forwards in quick succession and it paid dividends when one of them, Chandler-South finished off his side’s best move of the night.
However, this was soon nullified when Cowan-Dickie scored his second with Kenningham yellow-carded for collapsing the drive.
Quins looked up against it but remained in contention with a try from Dombrandt, and they were further buoyed when Kenningham returned with no damage done to the scoreboard.
With 12 minutes remaining, Dombrandt scored a second after O’Flaherty had fumbled a cross-field kick but that was as close as Quins could get.
