The Leicester Tigers came away with a tight but infinitely rewarding win at home, bagging a bonus point with their 36 - 35 win over the Sale Sharks.
Leicester Tigers vs Sale Sharks match report
Tiger Adam Radwan was the first to add points to the scoreboard, cinching the opening try and cementing Leicester’s strong start. Although James O’Connor missed the opening conversion, he quickly added three points from a penalty kick mere minutes later to extend the lead out to eight.
Radwan crossed the whitewash again at the half hour mark for the game’s second try, as the Sale Sharks struggled to kick into gear, struggling with handling errors aplenty.
However, their position now trailing 15 - 0 obviously ignited something in the Sharks, who quickly clocked a try of their own courtesy of Tom O’Flaherty in the corner and supported by an effortless conversion by George Ford.
Despite this, the Tigers were undeniably the healthier side going into half time, especially after an offload from Tom Whiteley to Henderson allowed them to add a sneaky extra seven points just before the break.
Shark's second wind
But if it was Leicester’s first half, then the Sale Sharks owned the second half. James came out for the second 40 minutes raring to go, almost instantly crossing the line to lessen the gap.
However, the Tigers hit back in what was to become a blow-for-blow second half, as Emeka Ilione crossed by the post, before the Sharks almost exactly replicated their first try as James fed Ford for another seven points.
This almost retaliatory rugby continued as Leicester scored once more via Whiteley, before Tom Roebuck clocked another try for Sale Sharks.
Despite trailing for the whole second half, in the final moments of the game it seemed like Sale were in with a chance of pinching victory from under the Tigers’ noses as Luke James ran the ball over to bring the game to within a point.
But ultimately, their efforts were just too late, and Bill Searle kicked the ball out to dead the game - and secure the Tiger’s bonus point win.
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