This was a bizarre frolic to end the season for two sides with Europe on their minds. Despite the unbroken sunshine the floodlights were switched on 20 minutes into the game and the warm, dry conditions nurtured a rash of handling errors rather than continuity. Leicester had spent the previous two weeks in a daze and struggled here with blurred vision initially before George Ford gave them clarity.
Sale needed to win with a bonus point to snare a Champions Cup place and they could have all but secured it by the interval. They made seven line breaks in the opening half but, if the final pass went to hand, it tended to be knocked on. The last one, when Jono Ross surged to the Leicester 22 and found AJ MacGinty, ended when what would have been a scoring pass to his half-back partner Faf de Klerk was intercepted by Jonah Holmes.
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Leicester had taken an early lead through Holmes after Manu Tuilagi’s thrust prompted a blindside move. Ford, standing flat, was twice involved but it was a rare example of the Tigers swiftly securing the ball at the breakdown where Tom Curry was quick to get back on his feet. The visitors’ advantage was up front, Sale’s scrum, like the ball when they attacked, tending to end on the floor.
Sale, prompted by de Klerk, were quick witted, scenting space around the fringes and instantly switching on after a turnover. The Sharks had not enjoyed a week that public relations consultants dream of, forced to deny any interest in signing the shamed former Ulster players Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding after spluttering from commercial partners.
Not that fly-half is a position of particular concern with MacGinty scheming cleverly initially before Leicester – after a half-time rejoinder that instead of indulging Sale in a bun fight they should treat them to some raw beef and let Ford do the slicing – muscled up. The Tigers were too loose and haphazard in the opening half, unable to sustain pressure, but the change of approach brought an instant reward.
Ben Youngs attacked round the fringes and linked with Ford – both his first-half penalties struck a post – who had a free run to the line. Leicester stayed direct and forced Sale to infringe. Two MacGinty penalties had restricted Leicester’s interval lead to a point but a pair of kicks from Ford in 10 minutes after his try put the Tigers 20-6 ahead and comfortably in control.
The Leicester sides of old would have carried on in the same manner, not only until the game had been won but right to the end. Here they invited Sale back in when Telusa Veainu weaved his way out of his 22 and left three defenders trailing. He got to halfway after outpacing de Klerk but a risky pass to Sione Kalamafoni went to ground and Ben Curry picked up to commit what passed for a defence and free Marland Yarde.
A near-capacity crowd celebrated the resurrection of hope. Sale had won their last two home matches against Leicester who in the previous two rounds had flopped at home to Northampton before blowing a 10-point lead late on to Newcastle, but Ford ensured that this time their grip was not broken. He continued to operate flat and in traffic and 15 minutes from time committed defenders to send May through a gap for the wing to find Mike Williams and restore the Tigers’ 14-point advantage.
Sale were finally spent, Ford’s late drop goal and Holmes’s second try decorating the victory. Champions Cup qualification used to be the minimum requirement at the start of the season for Leicester but, as the salary cap has had a levelling effect, they have gone from being winners to beaten finalists to top-four finishers to top-six, a decline that has started to gather momentum. They cannot recruit A-list players in the numbers of old but Ford playing as he did here and a referee not tolerating collapsed scrums make a significant difference.
The Premiership has reached the point where, with spending broadly similar, reputation counts for little. “The margins are tight,” said Leicester’s director of rugby, Matt O’Connor. “The standard has improved dramatically. I am not happy merely to be in the Champions Cup because at the start of the season our goal was to win the competition and it really hurts not being in the play-offs. We’ll be the better for this.”