Discount keeps play-off hopes alive – latest news

FRIDAY’S WRAP: Sale Sharks kept their Premiership play-off hopes alive with a 31-22 bonus point win over Leicester Tigers on Friday.

Gus Warr, Tommy Taylor and Sam James helped Sale into a 21-15 half-time lead.

Wing Tom O’Flaherty added a fourth try after the break for the bonus point.

The Tigers kept within reach with tries from Dan Cole and Matt Scott and George Martin scored the third try after the break.

*Bath are now level with Northampton Saints in the Premiership after a comfortable 28-17 bonus point win over Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park.

Bath secured victory in the first half with Thomas du Toit, Ben Spencer, Joe Cokanasiga and Matt Gallagher all adding to the spoils.

Newcastle remain without a league win since March 2023 as they remain bottom of the table.

Bath’s discipline gave Newcastle hope of a comeback as the latter stages were littered with penalties but they held on for victory.

All Saturday scores and scorers:

Discount 31-22 Leicester Tigers

Markers:

Sharks for sale:
Try: Warr, Taylor, S James, O’Flaherty
Versus: Ford 4
Pens: I’m seeing

For Leicester Tigers:
Try: Cole, Scott, Martin
Versus: Pollard, Shillcock
Pens: Shillcock

Sharks for sale: 15 Sam James, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Rob du Preez, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 George Ford, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Jean-Luc du Preez, 7 Sam Dugdale, 6 Ben Curry (captain), 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 James Harper, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Bevan Rodd
Substitutes: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Si McIntyre, 18 WillGriff John, 19 Ben Bamber, 20 Ernst van Rhyn, 21 Raffi Quirke, 22 Rekeiti Ma’asi White, 23 Arron Reed

Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Jamie Shillcock, 13 Matt Scott, 12 Dan Kelly, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg (captain), 5 Harry Wells, 4 George Martin, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Charlie Clare, 1 Francois van Wyk
Substitutes: 16 Nic Dolly, 17 James Whitcombe, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Finn Carnduff, 20 Olly Cracknell, 21 Tom Whiteley, 22 Phil Cokanasiga, 23 Solomone Kata

Referee: Christopher Ridley
Assistant referees: Jack Makepeace, Jamie Leahy
TMO: Ian Tempest

Newcastle Falcons 17-28 Bath

Markers:

For Newcastle:
Try: Blame 2, Stuart
Versus: Connon

For the bathroom:
Try: Du Toit, Spencer, Cokanasiga, Gallagher
Versus: Russell 4

Teams:

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Louis Brown, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Cameron Hutchison, 11 Ben Redshaw, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart, 8 Callum Chick (captain), 7 Guy Pepper, 6 Sam Cross, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 4 Tim Cardall, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Adam Brocklebank
Substitutes: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Mark Dormer, 18 Richard Palframan, 19 John Hawkins, 20 Freddie Lockwood, 21 James Elliott, 22 Rory Jennings, 23 Oli Spencer

Bathroom: 15 Matt Gallagher, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Cameron Redpath, 11 Will Muir, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben Spencer (captain), 8 Alfie Barbeary, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Quinn Roux , 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano
Substitutes: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Jacques du Plessis, 20 Miles Reid, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Orlando Bailey, 23 Josh Bayliss

Referee: Tom Foley
Assistant referees: Sara Cox, Hamish Smales
TMO: Dean Richards