London Irish 21 Sale Sharks 19

London Irish fly-half Adrian Jarvis kept his nerve to send over two late penalties and clinch victory in a game where the lead changed hands seven times.

Tries from Bryn Evans and Topsy Ojo had helped Exiles recover from trailing 10-0 with just 10 minutes gone.

Sale had made a flying start when Rob Miller pounced on an inside pass from Johnny Leota and touched down in the fourth minute.

And fly-half Nick Macleod, who went on to kick Sale's remaining 14 points, sent over a conversion and the first of his four penalties.

But Toby Booth's injury-hit side hit back to take a 12-10 half-time lead.

Evans began the fightback by charging over from close range after crisp passing along the line by Darren Allinson, Delon Armitage, Jarvis and Jonathan Spratt.

And Ojo pounced on a superbly judged grubber-kick by Steven Shingler to score Exiles' second try in the corner.

Although Tom Homer converted the first try, he missed a very difficult second attempt and then two penalties - one from inside his own half.

And when London Irish hooker David Paice was yellow-carded for a dangerous tip tackle on Sale No. 8 Andrew Powell eight minutes into the second half it looked like the visitors might press home their numerical advantage.

But Exiles defended with real vigour and were only 13-12 behind when Paice returned to the fray.

Homer restored Irish's lead at 15-13 before going off with a groin strain.

Then Jarvis matched Macleod's two penalties to secure a victory that lifts Exiles up to fifth place in the Aviva Premiership.

Head coach Toby Booth said: "If we had been a bit more clinical we probably could have made it more comfortable for ourselves.

"That is what pressure, an injury list and six changes do.

"In the first 10 minutes we were a little bit tentative.

"You have to give Sale some credit for that.

"We could have been considerably in front if we had been a bit more clinical."

Booth was delighted with the way his side bounced back from last week's 30-3 humiliation at Bath.

He added: "The victory was very important after what we produced last week.

"You can judge your group by how they respond in adversity and they were absolutely outstanding in effort and intensity.

"We may not have been as clinical as we would like - but I thought we were good value for our win.

"This was a new group of players - even more so this week because of the amount of injuries we have got.

"Dec Danaher, Shontayne Hape, Joe Ansbro and Richard Thorpe were ruled out this week to add to Daniel Bowden, Sailosi Tagicakibau, Chris Hala'Ufia, Jebb Sinclair and Jonathan Joseph.

"That is the attritional nature of this league and it hurts when you get lots of injuries in the same position.

"We have had to evolve quickly and there will be fluctuations on the way, but if you have effort and intensity you will be competitive."

Irish lost Ojo and Jamie Gibson to injury before the end and Booth revealed that Homer was also taken off for his own good.

The Exiles boss said: "Tom Homer tweaked his groin. I wouldn't take off the best kicker in the Premiership in a tight game.

"From a kicking point of view and counter-attacking that was where he was at most risk. He was becoming less and less mobile.

"Jamie Gibson aggravated the shoulder he injured at Bath.

"Hopefully it is not too long term, especially considering the position he plays.

"But he recovered well from the same injury this week so we are hopeful."

Booth was full of praise for Ojo and his replacement Marland Yarde.

The Exiles boss said: "I thought Topsy was outstanding and if I was singling people out for individual praise I thought Marland Yarde's impact off the bench was outstanding.

"He fractured and dislocated his shoulder against Sale last September and needed surgery so there were a few psychological issues for him to deal with but his man-and-ball tackle at the end proved to be quite important.

"It is good to get some boys back in the back line.

"The tight five have been going ok. If we can get some back-row boys back off the injury list that would be great."

But Booth fears his squad may soon be further depleted by international call-ups.

He added: "It will be interesting when the teams come out on January 11 because what could hurt us is I am sure a significant number of players will be involved in the Saxons because of our youth system and the attitude of (England caretaker boss) Stuart Lancaster towards youth.

"I would imagine some of our boys will get included in that, which is brilliant for them but not so good for us."

To see how the game unfolded click below.

Source: http://www.getwokingham.co.uk/sport/rugby/london_irish/s/2106009_london_irish_21_sale_sharks_19

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