Quins lost another player before the game had even kicked off. Ugo Monye, who had been carrying a knock all week, pulled out during the warm up. The impressive Seb Stegmann was promoted to the starting line up. Then, after only 17 minutes, David Strettle joined Monye on the sidelines with what Dean Richards later referred to as a “tweaked ankle”.

Despite these setbacks, the game started well enough. Quins dodged a bullet when Hodgson missed a penalty from the first scrum in the opening minute. They came back strongly and Luveniyali had the chance to give Quins the lead with a penalty just three minutes later. He missed, but did nail an even easier kick on 17 minutes after Ripol had been yellow carded for persistent infringements during a sustained Quins attack.

For the first half hour Harlequins were in control of the game, but poor kicking and basic errors meant that their still only had a three point lead when Peel chipped towards the Quins tryline. Good pursuit forced the visitors to concede a five metre scrum.

It proved the turning point in the game. During a period of play that had Philip Saint Andre dancing around the press box in disbelief, Quins conceded five penalties. Each time Sale opted for another scrum. The scrum was reset a total of nine times before, having already sent Mike Ross to the sin bin, referee Wayne Barnes awarded the inevitable penalty try.

At 7-3 Quins had the right to feel frustrated by the scoreline at half time, but the second half was a very different story. Still with the man advantage, Sale took a tap penalty and after a sweeping 40 metre attack, Chabal managed to burrow over close to the posts after only two minutes, leaving Hodgson another easy two points.

Sadly, for both himself and the team, Biggles never actually achieved lift-off on the night. He had looked very pensive from the start, dropping the opening clearance of the game (which resulted in Hodgson’s penalty chance), missed two kickable penalties and had lost the kicking duties to Gomarsall by the time he was withdrawn just before the hour mark. Danny Care took over at 10.

The aforementioned AG did reduce the arrears with another penalty after 61 minutes, but the game was beyond Harlequins just two minutes later when replacement Rudi Keil smashed through the three quarter line to score close to the posts.

Quins, to their credit, kept coming but never managed another score. They were held up over the line during one attack, but that was as close as they got. When Wrigglesworth dived over with the last play of the game, it rounded off a miserable evening for the disappointing visitors, who went down to a final score of 28-6.

Sale, who’s self confessed game plan had involved wearing Quins down after their tough encounter with Leinster last Sunday, got what they needed to keep their play off hopes alive. Quins left with much to ponder on the long coach ride home.

Sale: 15. Nick Macleod, 14. David Doherty, 13. Mathew Tait, 12. Andy Tuilagi (Keil 60 mins), 11. Oriol Ripol, 10. Charlie Hodgson, 9. Dwayne Peel (Wrigglesworth 55 mins), 1. Andrew Sheridan (Faure 55 mins), 2. Sebastien Bruno (Tait 55 mins), 3. Eifion Roberts (Turner 71 mins), 4. Sebastien Chabal, 5. Dean Schofield (Jones 45 mins), 6. Jason White, 7. Neil Briggs, 8. JM Fernandez Lobbe (Capt.)
Replacements: 16. Stuart Turner (for Roberts 71 mins), 17. Lionel Faure (for Sheridan 55 mins), 18. Chris Jones (for Schofield 45 mins), 19. David Tait (for Bruno 55 mins), 20. Richard Wigglesworth (for Peel 55 mins), 21. Rudi Keil (for Tuilagi 60 mins), 22. Selorm Kuadey

Harlequins: 15. Tom Williams, 14. David Strettle (Care 17 mins), 13. Gonzalo Tiesi, 12. De Wet Barry, 11. Seb Stegmann, 10. Waisea Luveniyali (Turner-Hall 59 mins), 9. Andy Gomarsall, 1. Ceri Jones, 2. Gary Botha (Fuga 45 mins), 3. Mike Ross (Lambert 55 mins), 4. James Percival, 5. George Robson (Guest 55 mins), 6.Chris Robshaw (Evans 55 mins), 7. Will Skinner (Capt) (McMillan 72 mins), 8. Nick Easter
Replacements: 16. Tani Fuga (for Botha 45 mins), 17. Mark Lambert (for Ross 55 mins), 18. Jim Evans (for Robshaw 55 mins), 19. Tom Guest (for Robson 55 mins), 20. Danny Care (for Strettle 17 mins), 21. Neil McMillan (for Skinner 72 mins), 22. Jordan Turner-Hall (for Luveniyali 59 mins)

Attendance: 9,579

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