MATCH FACTS Sale 16 (10) Try: Bruno Cons: Hodgson Pens: Hodgson 3 London Irish 17 (11) Try: Armitage Pens: Everitt 4

Fly-half Barry Everitt scored a penalty three minutes into added time to end Sale's perfect start to the season.

Charlie Hodgson looked to have won a thrilling game for Sale when he slotted a penalty with just two minutes to go.

The home side made a whirlwind start to the game, with hooker Sebastien Bruno scoring a try after three minutes following good work by Chris Jones.

Delon Armitage scored the Exiles' only try with a rampaging run from 30 metres out after 32 minutes.

London Irish coach Gary Gold was delighted with his side's last-gasp win.

"It was a fantastic performance by everybody. We really closed them down and set ourselves a fantastic platform to play from," he said.

"Not allowing arguably the best back three in the Premiership to hurt us was a big achievement. We had a look at Jason Robinson before the game.

"There is a real belief in the squad that we can beat anyone on our day."

I had warned our players that London Irish were a very dangerous side Philippe Saint-Andre

Sale coach Philippe Saint-Andre admitted Irish deserved to beat his table-topping side.

"London Irish deserved to win. We have to improve our line-out, because today we were very, very poor," he said.

"We did not have possession - we did not have the ball. I had warned our players that London Irish were a very dangerous side.

"It was a big crowd and it was a shame that we did not play as we had expected to," the Frenchman added.

Sale Sharks: Robinson (capt); Cueto, Rhys Jones, Todd, Hanley; Hodgson, Martens; Woodman, Bruno, Turner; Schofield, Jones; White, Lund, Chabal.
Replacements (from): Sheridan, Titterell, Stewart, Day, Caillet, Redpath, Taumalolo, Hercus, Wigglesworth, Moore.