Without wishing to demean an excellent Tykes team, Sale were looking to take a bonus point from this game. The Sharks have famously never lost to the Tykes, and Edgeley Park was surely not going to be the venue in which it would occur.

Leeds seemed to see things rather differently. Just thirty seconds in Gordon Ross kicked an up-and-under right at the Sale posts and Mark Cueto, in the unfamiliar fullback position, fumbled the ball backwards, across the line, where it was touched down by an unbelieving Nathan Thomas. Ross converted and the Sale crowd were shocked into silence.

Less than three minutes later Valentin Courrent kicked a neat penalty to edge closer, although he missed a similar attempt with 32 minutes left in the half. Sale showed some excellent rugby in this period however. Mark Cueto put in a powerful 30 metre run when he collected Ross' missed drop goal attempt, and Chabal thundered through the Leeds centres after taking a long lineout ball. The points, however, went to Leeds when Martens was penalised and Ross kicked to make it 3-10.

Steve Hanley carried on the excellent form he had shown away to Worcester last week, putting in an awesome chase on his chip and run kick. The pressure was on and a huge Sale presence surged at the Leeds line. Somehow Valentin Courrent failed to cross the line and Leeds returned play to the middle of the pitch.

With 20 minutes left in the first half Charlie Hodgson came on, replacing Courrent. He immediately changed the pace of the game, putting in some huge passes and stamping his authority on the Sharks back line. It nearly brought a Cueto try just two minutes later, but more excellent defending from Leeds put paid to that.

Four minutes later Oriol Ripol looked to have scored a try, but the referee called him back for an infringement.

Hodgson kicked a penalty with ten minutes left. The scoreboard stayed at 6-10 until the close of the half.

Phillipe Saint-Andre must have given the troops a stern talking to at half time, because the Sharks came out full of fire. It took seven minutes to harvest any points however, with Hodgson again kicking a penalty. Shortly afterwards the tables seemed to have turned and Leeds were heaping the pressure on the Sale try line. Out of nowhere Chris Mayor, only just on the pitch as a replacement for Robert Todd, burst out and scored the first Sale try of the match right between the posts. Charlie Hodgson took a cheeky quick conversion and the score looked healthier at 16-10.

With 21 minutes on the clock the Sharks needed a try every seven minutes to get their bonus point. It was possible. Leeds had other ideas. They pulled out all the stops and both Ross and Briggs scored excellent tries against the Sharks. The unthinkable was happening. Not only had Sales only scored one try, they were losing to the Tykes 16-24. With less than 5 minutes on the clock the situation looked very bleak.

The Sale crowd had been all but silent for some time, shocked into submission by an excellent Leeds performance. And yet the unthinkable happened. Why or how we may never know. The sight of Sharks supporters leaving the stadium got the chanting going again. Perhaps this fired up the Sharks. Maybe the Tykes were physically drained, maybe they became complacent. Whatever the reason Sale managed to turn the game around and score three truly spectacular tries. First Magnus Lund broke the Leeds defense with typical Nordic style. Thirty seconds later Chris Mayor scored his second try of the match, and Sale took the lead 26-24. The assassination of what would have been a deserved Tykes victory was completed when Ricahrd Wigglesworth touched down for the fourth try.

Those last five minutes of the match must go down in history as the most exciting moments of rugby ever witnessed at Edgeley Park.

Sale Sharks 35-24 Leeds Tykes.