Irish slump to heavy defeat at Sale

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Irish endured a tough day in the north west (Getty Images)

An error-strewn display from London Irish saw the Exiles go down to an emphatic 41-13 defeat to high-flying Sale at the AJ Bell Stadium on Sunday.

The hosts crossed for the first of their five tries after just six minutes when Simon Hammersby touched down and the home side, who haven’t lost at home to Irish in 20 years, then had two tries chalked off by the Television Match Official (TMO).


Paddy Jackson’s 12th-minute penalty reduced the arrears, but two quickfire five-pointers from Lood de Jager and Byron McGuigan just before hal-ftime put the hosts well in control at the break.

Jackson’s kicked another penalty just after the restart, but there was to be no repeats of the stellar Irish comebacks against Harlequins and Bristol from earlier in the season when Sale winger Arron Reed pounced on a loose pass and sprinted to the line to extend the lead to 20-6.

McGuigan darted over for his second try of the game on 64 minutes before Ben Donnell crossed for Irish after a smart offload from Blair Cowan with Jackson’s kick cutting the lead to 31-13.

Sale were then reduced to 13 men for the final 10 minutes of the match when Ross Harrison and Reed were yellow-carded, but to compound the visitors’ woes, the Sharks went over for a bonus-point try when McGuigan scored a hat-trick try in the final minute.