Sale overcame an early damage to Tom Curry to brush apart Gallagher Premiership title rivals Harlequins 24-16 at a rain-soaked Twickenham Stoop.
Curry gave new England head coach Steve Borthwick a scare forward of the upcoming Six Nations when he limped off within the sixteenth minute after his proper leg was trapped awkwardly throughout a sort out by Wilco Louw.
His makes an attempt to play on have been unsuccessful, however spectacular Sale regrouped following the departure of their explosive flanker to take Quins aside with a show of methodical precision that cements second place.
In a first-half dominated by kicking as heavy rain lashed down in south west London, the Sharks crossed by way of Tom O’Flaherty and Rob du Preez to construct a stable 14-6 interval lead.
Joe Marchant crossed to lift Quins’ hopes but it surely was a false daybreak as Sale responded with ahead tries by Akker van der Merwe and Cobus Wiese.
Nick David struck late on however Harlequins have been successfully shut down by their canny opponents as they slumped to a 3rd successive Premiership defeat.
Soon after Curry had trudged off, Sale engineered their first attempt when Luke James injected tempo because the backs have been launched off a line-out and having used his footwork to create area O’Flaherty was supplied with a easy end.
Manu Tuilagi was the following to pierce the house defence however simply because it appeared Quins had survived, Ben James gained a turnover that Sam James used to grubber forward for Du Preez to attain.
Tommy Allan’s two penalties saved Harlequins in contact however simply as they have been seeking to end a one-sided first half with a flourish, their Italian fly-half failed to seek out contact with a penalty.
Cadan Murley then kicked the ball out on the total and because the interval neared the aspiring England wing gave the impression to be in rising discomfort, clutching his chest and coughing.
Quins have been in want of inspiration to haul themselves again into competition and it got here by way of Joe Marchant, who pounced when Luke James did not cope with an Allan crossfield kick and simply gained the race to the road.
It proved to be solely a fleeting second of defiance, nevertheless, as Sale responded by constructing strain on the house 22 and within the 54th minute they have been over for his or her third attempt when a line-out drive was completed by Van der Merwe.
Allan got here off worst in a collision from Tuilagi and was carried off on a stretcher after receiving therapy for a number of minutes.
Sale shortly resumed battering on the door and as soon as extra their pack outmuscled the hosts with Wiese claiming the ultimate drive to safe the bonus level.
Another attempt coming however Quins broke from their half by way of Danny Care and several other phases later David ran a slick line to hold him over, however the conversion was missed and the Sharks ran down the clock.
