Sale breeze past Newcastle for first Gallagher Premiership win of 2025

Sale recorded their first Gallagher Premiership win of 2025 with a 39-15 victory over Newcastle at Kingston Park.

Sharks held a 17-point lead at half-time thanks to tries from Bevan Rodd, Rob du Preez and Tom O’Flaherty and two George Ford penalties.

Tadgh McElroy struck early into the second half to extend the advantage and, despite being reduced to 14, Joe Carpenter crossed for Sale’s fifth as they eased to a seventh Premiership win of the season so far.

Another difficult evening for Falcons saw Cameron Neild and Richard Palframan score their only tries as they slipped to a 10th league defeat to remain rooted to the bottom of the table.

Sale put the first points on the board when Ford kicked a penalty straight down the middle of the sticks.

The Sharks quickly took control of the game and Tom Roebuck burst through the Newcastle defence before a quick switch of play to the right allowed prop Rodd to cross and Ford’s conversion bounced in off the post.

Both teams struggled to build up phases in a stop-start half but the Falcons were able to get their first try of the match when Neild broke around the lineout to ground into the right corner against his former club and Brett Connon added the extras.

Sale nearly had the perfect response when Rekeiti Ma’asi-White touched down only moments later but the try was chalked off for a knock-on in the build-up.

Connon sent a penalty kick from just inside opposition territory wide of the upright and Sharks then launched a menacing attack when Du Preez was played through and he cut in from the right to score before Ford converted.

Both Connon and Ford struck from the tee before Sale added their third try of the game just before the break when Carpenter charged up the pitch and offloaded for O’Flaherty to ground, with Ford’s subsequent kick successful.

The visitors extended their lead 12 minutes into the second half with a scrum in the right corner and McElroy managed to bundle the ball over before Ford converted from a tight angle.

After a quiet spell in the game, prop Si McIntyre was sent to the sin bin for a clash of heads with Max Clark.

Despite being a player down, Sale put some great pressure on the Newcastle tryline and a fantastic pinpoint kick from Ford reached Carpenter in the right corner to ground just within bounds, but the conversion missed the target.

Newcastle put pressure on the Sale line in the closing stages and Palframan crossed for a late consolation.