“It was squeaky-bum time wasn’t it?” observed a mightily relieved Alex Sanderson after his Sale side had clung on to win a thrillingly open game which keeps them firmly in the playoff mix.

Sir Alex Ferguson famously coined the phrase when his Manchester United side battled with Arsenal for the Premier League title in 2003. Here, a short drive from Old Trafford on the outskirts of Salford, Sale’s top-four hopes were given a huge boost with this bonus-point success.

These playoff rivals scored five tries apiece and there were three minutes of added time in a tense finale as the visitors pushed for a potentially match-winning score. Sale held on, though, and the relief was writ large on Sanderson’s face when the game finally ended.

“I was a bit tense because we had to work hard for 83 minutes in the end, so I’m proud of that and of the five points,” said Sale’s director of rugby Sanderson, sipping a bottle of beer.

“But we’re in the mix [for the playoffs]. Yes, Quins picked up two points but if we keep racking up five points then we’ll be all right.”

In such a congested top-four battle, victory was non-negotiable for Sale and they duly delivered, with their fast start laying the platform.

Their captain, Ben Curry, charged over inside the second minute and fellow flanker Sam Dugdale, who enjoyed a fine game, soon added a second. Quins gradually woke up and began to showcase the kind of ­daring and ambition which so typifies their philosophy.

With Marcus Smith pulling the strings, and Tyrone Green a willing runner from full-back, the visitors stretched Sale’s defence in a fine move which culminated in Louis Lynagh diving over in the right corner.

He finished clinically again five minutes before the break, but Sale claimed their third try on the stroke of half-time through Arron Reed. A neat handling sequence saw Curry find Reed, an academy product making his 100th Sale appearance, and he scampered over in the right corner.

George Ford’s conversion put the hosts 22-10 ahead at the interval yet Quins refused to lie down. Cadan Murley went over inside the left channel, but although the replacement lock Ben Bamber was sent to the sin-bin in the 55th minute, Sale scored twice with 14 men.

First, the replacement scrum-half Raffi Quirke was the beneficiary of some excellent work from Tom O’Flaherty, who impressed off the bench, before Reed took centre stage again. Collecting an exquisite long pass from Robert du Preez, the winger evaded the attention of Green and Luke Northmore to score in the left corner. That came after a fourth Quins try by Oscar Beard and, although Northmore finished off a break to score the visitors’ fifth, Sale held on.

Sale’s top-four hopes will be decided by games at Newcastle and Saracens, with a home clash with Leicester sandwiched in between. Quins are fifth, two points and one place ahead of Sale, and also have a Champions Cup semi-final with ­Toulouse on the horizon.

Quins’ head coach Danny Wilson said: “We went for it at the end, but just came up short. The damage was done before then with Sale scoring two tries in the first six minutes.

“But I’ve been saying all season it’s going to come down to bonus points and we’ve picked up two. We’ve been around the top four all year, but it’s so, so tight. I think it’ll go down to the wire.” Squeaky-bum time, indeed.

Source: theguardian.com