Saracens beat Sale Sharks 35-25 to win sixth Premiership title

Saracens 35-25 Sale, Twickenham Stadium

Saracens went on to win the Premiership title for the sixth time as they defeated Sale Sharks 35-25 in the final of the tournament at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.

This was also Saracens' first title win since 2019 as they faced relegation from the top tier in 2020 due to salary cap breaches.

Relentless attack from Saracens forced Sale Sharks for an early infringement allowing Owen Farrell to kick a penalty goal to make it 3-0 by the 3rd minute but Sale immediately responded back as George Ford kicked a three-pointer of his own after Mark McCall's men infringed at ruck.

Farrell continued to exert pressure on the opponents as he grabbed the possession from Manu Tuilagi and from the eventual lineout Sale infringed allowing the England star to land his second penalty chance.

But a collapse at scrum allowed Leicester a chance to level the scores again and Ford made no mistake with the scores remaining levelled at 6-6 by the end of the opening quarter.

The momentum shifted towards the Sarries as Sale were reduced to 14 players temporarily with Tom Curry sent to sin-bin for a tackle without the ball on Malins that also resulted in a penalty try. Ford missed a penalty chance in the 26th minute but made amends by adding the extras on the try from Akker van der Merwe, who dived from close range making it 13-13.

As the break was approaching, Saracens grabbed the lead back as Farrell sent a perfect pass for Malins to touchdown and also kicked the conversion to make it 20-13 at the end of the opening half.

Sale made a brisk start to the second half as Tom Roebuck dived in the corner but they were still under two point deficit as Ford missed out on the conversion. Saracens came closing in scoring another try but fell inches short as Elliot Daly showed brisk pace after Theo Dan and Farrell did well in the build up.

Nevertheless, Farrell slotted his third penalty goal in the 50th minute to make it 23-18 before Bevan Rodd bundled over for Sale. Ford's conversion meant Sale went on to take the lead for the first time in the game with a 23-25 margin.

The 66th minute saw Malins' line break at the back of a line out allowing Daly to cross over and shortly his offload proved decisive for Ivan van Zyl's try taking Saracens to a 35-25 lead which proved enough despite a yellow card to Robin Hislop in the 73rd minute.

Team line up:

Saracens: Goode; Malins, Lozowski, Tompkins, Maitland; Farrell (capt), Van Zyl; Mawi, George, Riccioni, Itoje, Tizard, Isiekwe, Earl, Wray.

Reserves: Dan, Hislop, Judge, Hunter-Hill, Knight, De Haas, Taylor, Daly.

Sale Sharks: Carpenter; Roebuck, R Du Preez, Tuilagi, Reed; Ford, Warr; McIntyre, Van der Merwe, Schonert, J-L Du Preez, Hill, T Curry, Dugdale, Ross (capt).

Reserves: Ashman, Rodd, Oosthuizen, Beaumont, Ellis, Quirke, James, O'Flaherty.