Falcons snatch Sharks win with late penalty try

Newcastle Falcons made it two wins from two to start the Premiership season as a late penalty try gave them a 13-12 victory at Sale Sharks.

The Falcons claimed a bonus-point 35-8 triumph over Worcester Warriors in the opener, but had to work much harder this time around, scoring all 13 points in the second half to come out on top.

Sale led 3-0 at half-time thanks to AJ MacGinty’s penalty, Byron McGuigan seeing a try chalked off by the TMO as he was ruled to have lost control of the ball.

Two Sonatane Takulua penalties sandwiched by another three-pointer from MacGinty levelled the contest at 6-6.

But the boot of MacGinty gave Sale some breathing room, only for Newcastle to steal the points with six minutes remaining.

The Falcons were awarded a penalty try as Marc Jones was sin-binned for collapsing a rolling maul close to the line.

And, though Alex Tait saw yellow for the Falcons two minutes after, the visitors held on to maintain their 100 per cent record.