Sale Sharks’ unbeaten home record was emphatically brought to an end by Bristol Bears as the visitors won the Premiership match 22-14.
Tries from Jonny Hill and Augustin Creevy, along with Rob Du Preez’s conversions, were not enough to put Sale back on top of the Premiership this Friday night.
It was a clinical performance from Bristol that gave them the victory, with tries from Harry Randall, Gabriel Ibitoye, and Max Malins, while the boot of former Sharks fly-half AJ MacGinty scored 7 points.
Sale struggled with the onslaught of Bristol pressure straight from kickoff, and the visitors were rewarded in the 7th minute as Randall touched down just next to the posts, putting the visitors in front, before MacGinty added the conversion to make it 7-0.
Bristol doubled the scoreline in the 19th minute as Josh Caulfield charged down a Gus Warr box kick on the halfway line for Ibitoye to latch onto the loose ball and run in for a try before MacGinty once again added the conversion.
Sale got themselves back into the game in the 31st minute after an incredible charge down by Hill on a defensive clearance allowed him to pounce on the loose ball and score a try before Du Preez converted to make the score 14-7 to Bears.
An immense tackle on the try line in the 38th minute denied Joe Carpenter in the corner, as the try was ruled out following a TMO review, keeping the score at 14-7 at halftime.
Bristol were once again clinical two minutes into the second half as Malins set the ball down behind the try line after an incredible offload by Dan Thomas, bringing the score to 19-7.
For the next 20 minutes, Sale applied immense pressure to the Bristol defence, but the visitors withstood this barrage of attacking intent from Sharks.
Eventually Sale got their reward in the 67th minute as Agustin Creevy scored from a driving maul straight off a lineout before Du Preez added the conversion, making the score 19-14 to Bristol.
Just as Sharks gained momentum, they were halted in the 71st minute as Telusa Veainu was sin-binned for a dump tackle.
And moments later, in the 73rd minute, Josh Beaumont was shown a yellow card for a tackle that made contact with the head of the Bristol player, reducing Sale to 13 players.
From the resulting penalty, MacGinty added three points for Bristol to lead 22-14 in the 73rd minute, bringing the action to a close at the AJ Bell Stadium and Sale’s first Premiership defeat here since October 23, 2022 when they lost to Harlequins.
Scorers:
Sale Sharks: Hill (try), Creevy (try), DuPreez (conx2)
Bristol Bears: Randall (try), Ibitoye (try), Malins (try) MacGinty (conx2, Pen)
