A THIRD consecutive bonus point win kept Sale at the top of National Three North although Yorkshire side Sandal now have two games in hand following a second postponement at the weekend.

Sale had to work hard for their 46-18 victory which was in the balance for an hour before two converted tries.

Sale, who are nine points clear at the top, started well with a try from Jack Moorhouse after just two minutes, but the hosts levelled a few minutes later with a try of their own from James Hodder.

There was little to choose between the sides with Burnage using their pack to good effect, whilst Sale were keen to bring their talented backs regularly into play.

Burnage lost a player to the sin-bin early in the second quarter and Liam McGovern kicked the resulting penalty to put Sale 8-5 ahead. Both sides were testing each others’ defences and it was not until nine minutes before half time that Sale gained the edge.

Confident passing ended with Moorhouse scoring two tries in the space of four minutes – McGovern converting the first – before Adam Knight trimmed the Sale lead back to 20-8 with a penalty on the stroke of half time.

The early minutes of the second half saw Sale extend their lead with a powerful run from Chris Mayor to secure the fourth try which was converted by McGovern.

Burnage came back well with a try from Chris Keane and a conversion and penalty from Knight to narrow Sale’s lead to just nine points.

And Burnage were still well in the game as they gained the upper hand by taking play deep into the visitors' 22.

But the Sale resistance was outstanding as time after time the home side hammered away close to the Sale line but were prevented from scoring.

Sale finally sealed the win just after the hour with tries from Tom Bell and Moorhouse which were both converted by McGovern to extend the lead to 41-18.

Despite Joe Kelly being sin-binned Sale still had the final word when Matt Simpson completed the scoring with a late try.