Joe Heyes began his post-match press conference speaking about scoring on his 100th Leicester start and ended it waxing lyrical about butchering wild animals with his teammates.
It said much for the unity of a Tigers side who climbed to within a point of second-placed Bath with a bonus-point victory that confirmed a playoff place and encouraged hopes of a top-two finish.
Leicester ran in seven tries against a Sale side whose own playoff hopes have long since ended and Heyes capped a period of pressure on the hosts’ line for their fourth try shortly before the interval.
Geoff Parling’s men, still bubbling from their 41-17 win over Northampton last weekend, oozed confidence and physicality before easing off and letting Sale score three tries in the final quarter.
Yet the result was never in doubt as Leicester won in Salford for the first time since 2018, with their final-day trip to Bath likely to be a straight shootout for second place.
Heyes, who enjoyed an outstanding game, revealed: “It’s no amazing secret recipe, but the lads are hanging out more with each other off the pitch than at any time since I’ve been here.
“We’re playing golf and on Thursday we did a wild butchery course, provided by the Rugby Players Association, and were butchering wild deer and rabbits. I’ve got eight legs in a big chest freezer and I enjoy it even though I’ve got a bit of a weak stomach. But there’s a massive connectivity there and it showed again today.”
For Sale this season cannot end soon enough. Alex Sanderson’s side are the only team to have reached the playoffs in each of the previous three seasons. Yet the 2025-26 campaign has been one of major regression, a pronounced letdown for a club who have not won a major trophy since their solitary Premiership title success in 2006.
This latest setback means they have lost four successive home league games for the first time but Sanderson drew solace from their strong finish to secure a losing bonus point.
Sale’s director of rugby said: “Had the game lasted for another 10 minutes, we could have won that. I’m never happy with a loss, particularly at home, but the lads never threw in the towel, they dug in and there was a brilliant impact from the bench. We played a brand of rugby that we’re going to lean into and get better at. Yes, there was frustration during the first half but I’m quite proud of the boys for digging in as they did against a very good team.”
Leicester’s forwards had a field day and two of them combined for the opening score with less than two minutes played. Hanro Liebenberg embarked on a marauding run inside the left channel before finding Ollie Hassell-Collins, who showed intelligence to send Ollie Chessum galloping over the line.
Boosted by the return of the talismanic Tom Curry after a calf injury for his first Sale appearance since January, the hosts fashioned an initially impressive response.
George Ford, Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, Joe Carpenter and Tom O’Flaherty were all involved in a move which culminated in the England wing Tom Roebuck touching down.
Leicester, though, were dominant and their forward supremacy harvested close-range tries for Jamie Blamire and Joaquin Moro.
Sale had bursts of momentum and a quick penalty-tap from Raffi Quirke created the space for the flanker Jacques Vermeulen to crash over the line, but it was another false dawn.
Leicester were soon knocking on Sale’s door again and the irrepressible Heyes barged over for their fourth try as half-time approached.
Sanderson replaced Quirke with Gus Warr at the break but Leicester continued to fizz with energy, scoring their fifth try two minutes after the interval when Will Wand arrived at pace to ground the ball.
Sale Sharks Carpenter; Roebuck (Davies 72), James, Ma’asi-White, O’Flaherty (Reed 51); Ford, Quirke (Warr 41); Opoku-Fordjour, Longstaff (Austin 59), Harper (Bell 56), Van Rhyn, Bamber, Vermeulen (Andrews 44), Dugdale, Curry (Kelly 51).
Tries Roebuck, Vermuelen, Van Rhyn, Dugdale, Reed
Cons Ford 4
Leicester Steward; Radwan, Wand, Bailey (Whiteley 57), Hassell-Collins; O’Connor (Kata 12), Van Poortvliet; Smith (Van der Flier 51), Blamire (Clare 51), Heyes (Hurd 51), Martin (Henderson 51), Chessum, Liebenberg, Reffell, Moro (Cracknell 49, Watson 72)
Tries Chessum, Blamire, Moro, Heyes, Wand, Hassell-Collins, Van der Flier
Cons O’Connor, Bailey 5
Referee Hamish Smales Attendance 7,251
Their sixth try arrived in the 55th minute and it was a beautifully-worked effort as Orlando Bailey, who replaced the injured James O’Connor early on, found Adam Radwan before his exquisite long pass sent Hassell-Collins over in the left corner.
Five minutes later, Archie van der Flier was on hand to touch down inside the right channel before Sale gained a semblance of respectability with tries from the captain, Ernst van Rhyn, the flanker Sam Dugdale and Arron Reed.
But this was Leicester’s day and Parling said: “We’ve got to celebrate this win and our destiny is in our own hands. We’ve now confirmed in the top four and to win here for the first time since 2018, a place where a lot of the players haven’t won before, is a big moment so let’s enjoy it.”
