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Sale Sharks maintained their unbeaten home record this season with victory over Leicester Tigers
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The hosts flanker Cameron Neild crashed over before Nev Edwards added a second try to make it 17-13 at half-time
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A thunderstorm early in the second half then saw play suspended for 10 minutes
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Leicester’s Vereniki Goneva powered over to level the scores, but Danny Cipriani’s solo try won it for Sale
A late Danny Cipriani try settled an enthralling 27-20 victory for Sale over Leicester at the AJ Bell Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Sale flanker Cameron Neild crashed over, and Nev Edwards added a second try before Leicester’s Tommy Bell dotted down to make it 17-13 at half-time.
Referee Thomas Foley called the players off with 26 minutes remaining due to the looming storm above the AJ Bell Stadium, but it soon subsided and, after a 10-minute break, the match restarted with the Sharks leading 20-13.
Although the visitors hit back with a converted try from Vereniki Goneva to level the scores in the 61st minute, Sale won it when Cipriani weaved his way through in the 69th minute and then converted to make it 27-20.
The result saw Sale complete the double over the Tigers and served as a huge boost to their hopes of European qualification.
England trio Dan Cole, Ben Youngs and Manu Tuilagi all returned after RBS 6 Nations duty for a Leicester side who had won on their last five visits to Sale since a 15-12 reversal at Edgeley Park in September 2009.
Sale: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Will Addison, 13 Sam James, 12 Sammy Tuitupou, 11 Nev Edwards, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 TJ Ioane, 7 David Seymour (c), 6 Cameron Neild, 5 Jonathan Mills, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Eifion Lewis-Roberts
Replacements: 16 Neil Briggs, 17 Ross Harrison, 18 Brian Mujati, 19 Andrei Ostrikov, 20 Magnus Lund, 21 James Mitchell, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Mark Jennings
Leicester: 15 Tommy Bell, 14 Mathew Tait, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Owen Williams, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Jordan Crane (c), 7 Tom Croft, 6 Laurence Pearce, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Dom Barrow, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Harry Thacker, 1 Marcos Ayerza
Replacements: 16 Greg Bateman, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Fraser Balmain, 19 Sebastian de Chaves, 20 Opeti Fonua, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Peter Betham, 23 Telusa Veainu
Date: Sunday, March 27
Venue: AJ Bell Stadium
Kick-off: 13:00 local (12:00 GMT)
Referee: Thomas Foley
Assistant Referees: Andy Watson, Kelvin Stewart
TMO: Stuart Terheege