When Joe Carpenter won an 82nd minute turnover against the run of play to hand his Sale Sharks side a 37-31 victory over Harlequins, it catapulted the Mancunians from eighth into sixth in the Premiership table and reduced the deficit to the play-off spots to just three points.
With Northampton Saints five points clear of second place Bath in the Gallagher Premiership table, there are now just nine points between the West Country club and Exeter Chiefs in seventh with just three games to play.
Sale needed to win to keep their play-off hopes alive and did so, scoring five tries against a Quins side who have now lost their last four domestic games.
And with Bristol Bears beating Newcastle Falcons 85-14 in the other fixture on Sunday it means there is a real race on for the post-season places.
While there has been criticism of the reduction in size of the league to 10 teams – because of the fall of Worcester
…. to be continued
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