McAlister Provides Inspiration As Sale Tame Tigers

Sale vaulted over Leicester to move into the top four of the Premiership with their first victory over the Tigers since they secured the league title 19 months ago. On a typically English afternoon when words like commitment, passion, endeavor, honesty and grit came to mind, it was New Zealand know-how in the form of the home center Luke McAlister which ultimately proved the difference as the champions suffered their third league defeat of the campaign.

The cosmopolitan nature of the Premiership was shown in the fact that the 13 starters yesterday who played in the recent World Cup were spread across six countries with a seventh, Italy, represented on Leicester's bench. But it was a player who pulled out of the England squad, the prop Julian White, who made the initial impact, getting the better of the tussle up front with someone who had been influential in France, Andrew Sheridan.

Despite, or because of, the gnarled nature of the two sets of forwards, both sides looked to move the ball yesterday afternoon. There were more passes than at a boozy office Christmas party, but more fumbling than at a teenage disco. The frantic frenzy was eventually controlled by two of New Zealand's World Cup squad, McAlister and Aaron Mauger, recent rivals for the All Black No12 jersey who found themselves on opposite sides.

Mauger made the first clean break of the afternoon, only to see his creativity undone by a Geordan Murphy knock-on, and he tackled Julien Laharrague after the full-back had caught a kick-ahead in his own 22 and covered 35 yards with the Tigers running out of defenders. McAlister gradually grew in influence and should have inspired the opening try of the match on the half-hour when he feinted in between Ollie Smith and Mauger, catching his own chip ahead before freeing Laharrague who, after the video referee had been consulted, was deemed to have been held up over the line.

The first half looked like being tryless, Charlie Hodgson kicking three penalties to Andy Goode's one, before McAlister broke through the middle in stoppage time. The ball was taken on by the two Sébastiens, Chabal and Bruno, before Hodgson switched play to the left and Rory Lamont on his opposite wing found himself with an unopposed run to the corner.

It should have given the Sharks a 14-3 interval lead but Chabal dropped the restart and Goode, who had been a curious mixture of the brilliant and the bad, attacked the blind-side and, combining well with Ollie Smith, freed John Murphy for an immediate riposte.

The Tigers were level with 15 minutes to go after two more Goode penalties. Sale were struggling in the line out as well as the scrum and they were drawn into a scrap at the breakdown where the flanker Luke Abraham, a lookalike for Chabal with his long, straggly hair and dark, if nowhere near as bushy, beard, was high on nuisance value and the home side were never able to exert any measure of control. That made it all the more surprising that they chose not to go for two very kickable penalties after 51 and 52 minutes, opting instead for two short-range line outs.

Nothing came of the first while the second was gathered by the Leicester flanker Tom Croft, not for the first time. Bruno struggled to find his targets all afternoon, especially when throwing long, and given that they were leading by only three points in a tight game, not going for the three points smacked of stupidity more than boldness.

They would have paid the ultimate price had Goode been on better kicking form - he missed four attempts out of seven - and had Tom Varndell scored in the corner 11 minutes from time after gathering his own kick only to lose control of the ball on the line in a thumping tackle by Sheridan.

If the opening half had suited Sale because of its looseness, the second period was played on Leicester's terms - so the Tigers will be kicking themselves that, having pulled level and gained a clear ascendancy at forward, they failed to press on and become the first visiting team to win here since they did last April. Hodgson restored Sale's lead with a penalty 13 minutes before the end of normal time and the nine minutes of stoppage time belonged to McAlister.

He ensured Sale played the game in Leicester territory with a series of raking kicks, extended his side's lead to six points with a 45-yard penalty and he did what few have managed in the Premiership, namely stop Dan Hipkiss dead with a head-on tackle. On a day when McAlister showed sublime touches as well as an appetite for the physical side, it was his decision-making which caused him to stand out - and it was to Hodgson's credit that he did not refuse chances to defer to the All Black, while Goode did not complement Mauger anywhere near as effectively. "A bonus point is no consolation," said the Leicester director of rugby Marcelo Loffreda, who wants the Argentina fly-half Juan Martin Hernández to move to Welford Road in the summer.

Sale Laharrague; Lamont (Cueto, 44), McAlister, Thomas, Ripol; Hodgson, Wigglesworth; Sheridan, Bruno, Roberts (Turner, h-t), Schofield (Cockbain, 58), Cox (Jones, 58), White (capt), Lund (Briggs, 61), Chabal.

Try Lamont. Pens Hodgson 4, McAlister.

Leicester G Murphy; Varndell, Smith (Hipkiss, 64), Mauger, J Murphy; Goode, F Murphy; Ayerza (White, 80), Chuter, White (Castrogiovanni, 58), Hamilton, Kay, Croft, Abraham, Corry (capt).

Try J Murphy. Pens Goode 3.

Referee D Pearson (Northumberland). Attendance 10,872.