The to-and-fro contest continued and the home side pushed ahead again, with their own bonus-point try as Rob du Preez sent a looping pass over to O’Flaherty for his second and Sale’s fourth. 

The lead was short-lived though after another sensational Saints effort. Callum Chick slipped through Sale’s line and went sprinting forwards before finding Mitchell on his shoulder. The scrum-half danced into Sharks’ 22 before popping the ball back up to Chick, who in turn found Kemeny outside him.

Belleau’s conversion went just wide in the high winds and sent the match into its final quarter with the scoreline 29-31 in Saints’ favour. Northampton thought they’d scored again which Chick made it over the whitewash from close range after a period of pressure, but the No.8 was deemed to be held up. 

Saints did eventually get their score with five minutes to go, more pressure from close range saw them close before Coles stretched over. And the away side would close out the match in some style – when Freeman pounced on loose ball, hacking it onto a charging Pollock, with the replacement back row racing in for a diving finish.

Furbank’s conversion made it 29-43 and Saints retained possession as the clock ran down and Furbank sent the ball into the stands to end the match. 

Saints take a break from league action for the next two months, with the PREM Rugby Cup making a return as Northampton first take on Leicester Tigers next Saturday 31 January (kick-off: 3.05pm). 

LINE-UPS:

SALE: 15 Carpenter, 14 O’Flaherty, 13 du Preez, 12 Ma’asi-White, 11 Wills, 10 Ford, 9 Quirke; 1 Rodd, 2 Jibulu, 3 Harper, 4 van Rhyn, 5 Bamber, 6 Vermeulen, 7 Dugdale, 8 Curry.
Replacements: 16 Caine, 17 McIntyre, 18 Bell, 19 Burrow, 20 Gilmore, 21 Warr, 22 Louw, 23 Reed.

SAINTS: 15 Hendy, 14 Freeman,  13 Hutchinson , 12 Dingwall (c), 11 Todaro, 10 Belleau, 9 Mitchell; 1 Iyogun, 2 R Smith, 3 Davison, 4 Coles, 5 Van Der Mescht, 6 Kemeny, 7 Pearson, 8 Chick.
Replacements: 16 Wright, 17 Fischetti, 18 Millar Mills, 19 Prowse, 20 Lockett, 21 Pollock, 22 McParland, 23 Furbank.