Exeter moved to the top of the Premiership table after they beat Sale Sharks 10-6 at the AJ Bell Stadium in a hard-fought away win.
Five days after their heroics in Montpellier, this was a tough outing for the Chiefs but they got the job done thanks to wing Lachie Turner's try and five points from the boot of fly-half Gareth Steenson. They also showed tenacity in defence to keep Sale out late in the contest.
It was a disappointing opening period in Salford with only three points carded by each team in a 40 minutes that was very low on entertainment.
Much of the pre-match talk had centred around the possible arrival of England international wing Marland Yarde from Harlequins to Sale, a rumour that director of rugby Steve Diamond was swift to cool. However, according to reports Yarde joining the Sharks is all but a done deal.
The wings had little joy early on as much of their work was gathering kicks, as both sides battled for territory in the Premiership meeting.
It took until the 30th minute before the first points were scored and it went the way of Exeter after the Sharks were penalised for crossing by referee Craig Maxwell-Keys. Steenson landed the penalty but four minutes later De Klerk levelled, this after his pack won a scrum penalty.
Both had chances to add to their side's tally but first De Klerk was short with his 45-metre attempt before Henry Slade was well off-target.
It did not take long for the try drought to end in the second-half though as on 44 minutes, Turner raced over close to a ruck and with the simple conversion from Steenson suddenly the Chiefs were looking good at 10-3 up. That was back-to-back Premiership crossings from Turner.
Sale did claw their way back into it with a second De Klerk penalty on 58 minutes making it 10-6 before both outfits made several changes. Controversy then ensued when it appeared Sale played one minute with 16 on the field, with the officials not covering themselves in glory.
With time ticking down on the clock and three minutes left, Sale were pressing hard and the pressure was beginning to tell on Exeter, with Stuart Townsend yellow carded for going off his feet. The Chiefs though defended for their lives to keep the hosts at bay to claim victory.
The scorers:
For Sale:
Pens: De Klerk 2
For Exeter:
Try: Turner
Con: Steenson
Pen: Steenson
Yellow Card: Townsend
Sale Sharks: 15 Will Addison (c), 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Sam James, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Byron McGuigan, 10 James O'Connor, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Jono Ross, 5 Andrei Ostrikov, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 WillGriff John, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Ross Harrison
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 James Flynn, 18 Halani Aulika, 19 George Nott, 20 TJ Ioane, 21 Cameron Neild, 22 Will Cliff, 23 Mike Haley
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ian Whitten, 11 James Short, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Nic White, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Sam Simmonds, 6 Don Armand, 5 Ollie Atkins, 4 Mitch Lees, 3 Harry Williams, 2 Jack Yeandle (c), 1 Carl Rimmer
Replacements: 16 Elvis Taione, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Jonny Hill, 20 Sam Skinner, 21 Stuart Townsend, 22 Tom Hendrickson, 23 Tom O'Flaherty
Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys
Assistant referees: Jack Makepeace, Wayne Falla
TMO: Trevor Fisher
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