Leicester defeat Sale to secure play-off place

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Leicester Tigers captain Ollie Chessum scored the first of his side's seven tries as they beat Sale Sharks Tries: Roebuck, Vermuelen, Van Rhyn, Dugdale, Reed Cons: Ford (4) Tries: Chessum, Blamire, Moro, Heyes, Wand, Hassell-Collins, Van der Flier Cons: O'Connor, Bailey (5) Leicester Tigers secured their spot in the Prem play-offs with a comfortable 47-33 win over a defensively frail Sale Sharks at the CorpAcq Stadium. The Tigers dominated much of the game, with Ollie Chessum, Jamie Blamire and Joaquin Moro crossing the whitewash early on. Sale struck back through Tom Roebuck and Jacques Vermeulen before a slew of Tigers tries either side of half-time from Joe Heyes, Will Wand, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Archie van der Flier put the match beyond them. With the game gone, Sale woke up, claiming a bonus point of their own through late tries from Ernst van Rhyn, Sam Dugdale and Arron Reed, but they will be left ruing a performance in which they were comprehensively outplayed for 60 minutes. It took Leicester, fresh from their demolition of local rivals Northampton Saints last week, less than two minutes to put points on the board. Following Will Wand's break down the wing, Leicester recycled down the short side with Hassell-Collins finding space before feeding Chessum to go over untouched. Sale soon responded with a well-worked try of their own. Off the back of a ruck, Rekeiti Ma'asi-White accelerated away before feeding Joe Carpenter. It appeared the full-back had held on to the ball for too long, but he eventually recycled it with Roebuck completing the move to score in the corner. Blamire then restored Leicester's lead, rolling over from an attacking maul as Sale ran out of defenders. Leicester found themselves once again in an attacking position soon after and as the Sale scrum splintered, Moro dived over to increase the lead to 16 points. Having been camped in their own half for much of the first half, Sale got a break. Leicester were penalised on their own scrum allowing the returning Raffi Quirke to scamper towards the try line, but after the scrum-half was hauled down, Vermeulen then spotted a gap and dived through for an unlikely score. Undeterred, Leicester claimed their try bonus point on the verge of half-time when Joe Heyes, on his 100th club start, powered over from short range as Sale's red zone defence once again proved porous. Image source, GettyImage caption, Tom Roebuck's early score proved significant as the Sharks' claimed an unlikely late try bonus point Shortly after the break, Wand extended Leicester's lead with his 13th try of the season. Faced with a wall of defenders, the centre kicked ahead into the Sale 22 before regathering a high bouncing ball ahead of Roebuck to dot down. Being comprehensively outplayed across the pitch, Sale were unable to live with Leicester's quick ball and conceded two further tries through Hassell-Collins and the rampaging Van der Flier. Three late Sale scores for Van Rhyn, Dugdale and Reed gave the scoreline an unfairly even complexion, but Sale never truly looked like overhauling the visitors. Still in third, Leicester face two difficult games against fourth-placed Exeter Chiefs and second-placed Bath as they look to secure a home semi-final, while Sale remained marooned in seventh. Leicester Tigers' head coach Geoff Parling told BBC Radio Leicester: "In the first half we were physical, dominant up front, possibly trying to shift the ball too much at times when we needed to go more direct, but lots of good things. "The last 15-20 minutes will give us good things to review on Wednesday. We'll dig into that because we fell away, lost our control of the game. "But the overall feeling is we've got to celebrate. Our destiny is still in our own hands with where we play games and we're confirmed in the top four. "We know what we are fighting for. We need to keep pushing." Sale: Carpenter; Roebuck, James, Ma'asi-White, O'Flaherty; Ford, Quirke; Opoku-Fordjour, Longstaff, Harper; Van Rhyn (c), Bamber, Vermeulen, Dugdale, T Curry. Replacements: Austin, McEachran, Bell, Andrews, Kelly, Warr, Davies, Reed. Leicester: Steward; Radwan, Wand, Bailey, Hassell-Collins; O'Connor, Van Poortvliet; Smith, Blamire, Heyes; Martin, Chessum (c), Liebenberg, Reffell, Moro. Replacements: Clare, Van der Flier, Hurd, Henderson, Cracknell, Watson, Whiteley, Kata.

Leicester defeat Sale to secure play-off place

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