Sale up to second with away victory over Bristol

Rob du Preez picked off a Bristol pass to score Sale's third try from 60 metres out

Bristol: (7) 13
Tries: Caulfield Pens: Sheedy 2 Con: Sheedy
Sale: (8) 27
Tries: Reed, S James, R Du Preez, Carpenter Cons: Ford 2 Drop-goal: Ford

Sale recorded a fourth win in five Premiership games with a bonus-point victory over Bristol.

Two Callum Sheedy penalties were all Bristol could muster after the break as Sam James, Rob du Preez and Joe Carpenter secured five points for Sale.

Bristol are now winless in three, while the Sharks go second in the table.

Premiership table

The return of England prop Kyle Sinckler was one of six changes to Bristol's starting 15 although full-back Max Malins was ruled out before kick-off because of illness, denying him what was due to be his debut since returning to the club this season.

Sheedy missed a long-range penalty for the hosts inside two minutes but when Ben Curry was sent to the bin for taking out Rich Lane while in the air, they eventually made Sale pay after a sloppy few minutes of knock-ons and miss-passes in attack.

Deft hands saw the ball quickly moved out wide to Lane who stepped over a tackle and offloaded to Virimi Vakatawa, with the centre passing inside to Caulfield to run over for his first Premiership try for the side.

Sale retaliated instantly as Tom Roebuck capitalised on a narrow Bears defensive line with a long ball over the top to pick out winger Reed to score in the corner, and Ford replicated his England form by kicking a drop-goal to nudge the Sharks ahead at the break.

Bristol temporarily regained the lead through a Sheedy penalty before a lovely delayed pass from Ford opened a gap between two defenders for James to go under the posts.

It was then that Sale gradually stretched ahead and Du Preez intercepted a pass while Bristol were in attack, streaking 60 metres to score.

Another Sheedy penalty got Bristol back within one score but Sale secured the bonus point after another lovely bit of play, orchestrated by Ford, saw Cobus Wiese cut inside to set up Carpenter to run over.

Bristol had the possession to get back on level ground, but their afternoon was summed up when Magnus Bradbury dropped the ball over the line to miss out on what would have been a certain try to secure a losing bonus point.

Bristol: Lane; Heward, Vakatawa, Janse van Rensburg, Ibitoye; Sheedy, Randall; Woolmore, Oghre, Sinckler, Caulfield, Batley, Bradbury, Harding, Thacker.

Replacements: Capon, Grahamslaw, Kloska, Dun, Thomas, Marmion, Williams, O'Conor.

Sale: S James; Roebuck, R Du Preez, Bedlow, Reed; Ford, Warr; Rodd, Creevy, Schonert, Wiese, Beaumont, Van Rhyn, D Du Preez, B Curry.

Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, McIntyre, Harper, Bamber, Birch, Thomas, Carpenter, Dugdale.  

Sin-bin: Ben Curry (5 mins)

Referee: Karl Dickson

Subscribe to the Rugby Union Daily podcastAdd rugby union alerts to your BBC Sport app