SALE went down to their second consecutive defeat with a poor performance for the first hour of this match.

Wirral went in front with a penalty from Craig Harvey, before the same player crossed for a try and conversion to put the visitors 10-0 ahead.

The score worsened for Sale as Wirral scrum half Joe Murray then scored another two tries, one converted by Harvey, to put Wirral 22-0ahead after just 30 minutes.

Sale finally got points on the board through Jonathan Keep early in the second half. They brought themselves back into the match, when Wirral lost a player to the sin-bin, with tries from Ciaran Connolly and a second from Keep, both of which were converted by Josh Longmore to bring the score to 19-22.

But the visitors held out for a close win.