| Bath: (14) 42 |
| Tries: Gallagher, Cokanasiga 2, Dunn, Lawrence Pens: Russell 2 Cons: Russell 4 Drop-goal: Russell |
| Sale: (10) 24 |
| Tries: Tuilagi, Roebuck, Dugdale Pens: Ford Cons: Ford 3 |
Finn Russell kicked 17 points as Bath beat Sale 42-24 to move up to second in the Premiership.
The sides were tied after 60 minutes following tries from Matt Gallagher and two from Joe Cokanasiga for Bath, while Manu Tuilagi, Tom Roebuck and Sam Dugdale scored for Sale.
But a penalty and drop-goal from Russell broke the deadlock for Bath.
Tom Dunn’s score sealed the bonus point before Ollie Lawrence added a fifth try see Bath move above Saracens.
Sale remain eighth in the table and without a win in 2024, having now lost their last four Premiership games.
Bath came out flying and opened Sale up twice within the first few minutes, and although a wayward pass to Lawrence denied him a try, the second opportunity saw full-back Gallagher teed up perfectly to have a clear run over.
Sale grew into the game, winning the first penalty as Ford kicked them onto the board before they took the lead – albeit for a short-lived three minutes – as Tuilagi spun out of a tackle and ran over in the corner.
Russell and Tom Dunn then punched holes through the Sharks defence and Redpath’s one-handed over the top pass saw Cokanasiga swan-dive over the try-line.
Sale’s kick-chase, though, was repeatedly effective and after launching themselves up the pitch, winger Arron Reed collected a grubber from Gus Warr only to be held up following an excellent sprint back from Spencer as Bath kept their slender lead at the break.
They made a disastrousstart to the second half as Roebuck intercepted a Spencer pass as he took the ball from a scrum and had an easy run past Russell to the corner.
There remained little between the sides as the lead swung like a pendulum, with Ted Hill – on his return from injury after being out since October – off-loading to Cokanasiga, who scored his second to edge Bath back in front.
But when Lawrence was sent to the bin for a head-on-head collision, Sale capitalised and touched down through Dugdale from the resulting penalty to make it 24-24.
Bath refused to let the numerical disadvantage have a further impact on them and restored to XV, were the stronger side.
Winger Will Muir was denied a spectacular touchdown in the corner by Sale full-back Joe Carpenter, before Russell kicked a penalty and drop goal to open a six-point advantage.
Suddenly everything started falling Bath’s way as the coaches rang the replacements and Dunn powered over from a maul to earn the crucial bonus point and all-but secure the win.
Lawrence then had the sold-out Rec crowd on their feet with five minutes left on the clock as he capped off a steady bout of Bath pressure with their fifth try to tie-up the victory.
Bath: Gallagher, Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Redpath, Muir, Russell, Spencer (c); Obano, Dunn, Du Toit, Roux, Ewels, Hill, Underhill, Barbeary.
Replacements: Faiva, Schoeman, Griffin, Stooke, Reid, Schreuder, Bailey, Coetzee.
Sin-bin: Ollie Lawrence (56 mins)
Sale: Carpenter, Roebuck, R. Du Preez (c), Tuilagi, Reed, Ford, Warr; Rodd, Cowan-Dickie, Harper, Wiese, Beaumont, Van Rhyn, Dugdale, J.L Du Preez.
Replacements: Taylor, McIntyre, Opoku-Fordjour, Bamber, Andrews, Quirke, James, O’Flaherty.
Sin-bin: x
Referee: Adam Leal
