Sale put weakened Bristol to the sword to end season with a flourish

Sale’s disappointing PREM Rugby campaign ended on a high with a comfortable 38-17 bonus-point win over an understrength Bristol to confirm their place in next season’s Champions Cup.

Alex Sanderson’s Sharks have made the play-offs in each of the past three campaigns but ended this season in seventh, their lowest placing since finishing in that position in 2018-19.

They needed a point to guarantee a place in next term’s Champions Cup and a dominant first-half display laid the platform for a thumping six-try win over a Bristol side who finished this season in sixth.

England fly-half George Ford opened the scoring and lock Ben Bamber soon doubled Sale’s lead before winger Arron Reed and full-back Joe Carpenter also touched down.

Bristol, who named an all-English matchday 23 to ensure they meet the RFU’s EQP regulations, hit back with two tries from winger Noah Heward and hooker Tomas Gwilliam before the break.

But Sale scored a fifth try through Rekeiti Ma’asi-White and Reed claimed his second before Bristol fly-half Sam Worsley completed the scoring late on.

Having forced Bristol back towards their own line from the first whistle, it came as no surprise when the Sharks claimed an opening score in the second minute.

Some neat handling in midfield created the space for Ford to collect possession and saunter over the line unopposed inside the left channel.

Ford kicked the conversion and it was not long before the hosts had their second try through Bamber. The imposing lock charged down the right flank and capitalised on a handling error by a Bristol defender to dive over in the corner.

Ford applied the conversion and Sale led 14-0, with scrum-half Raffi Quirke causing Bristol plenty of problems on his final appearance before joining Newcastle this summer.

And Quirke was the architect of their third try in the 16th minute when he sent a delightful chip over the top of the Bears’ defence. Scotland winger Reed raced forward to ground the ball and Ford added the extras to make it 21-0.

Carpenter got in on the act in the 23rd minute when he supported the attack from full-back and dived over the line on a diagonal run.

Bristol showed little as an attacking force but scored from a rare attack in the 26th minute when Heward dived over and Worsley converted.

The Bears scored again on the stroke of half-time when Gwilliam went over from close range for an unconverted score which made it 26-12.

Shortly after the break, Ma’asi-White took Tom Roebuck’s deft offload to score a try which Ford improved with his fourth conversion of the match.

Reed was denied his second after narrowly failing to ground the ball under the posts but he soon completed his brace with a fine finish in the right corner.

Worsley then supported a break late on to score Bristol’s third touchdown but was unable to add to his second conversion as Sale outscored their visitors by six tries to three.