Sale Sharks reduced the gap on leaders Saracens to five points as they thrashed reigning champions Leicester Tigers at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Tom O’Flaherty, Simon McIntyre, Ewan Ashman, Rob du Preez all crossed, along with a penalty try as they did the double over Leicester.

It was a first loss for the Tigers under interim head coach Richard Wigglesworth, with just a Handre Pollard try to show for a difficult evening.

Since Sale beat Leicester to become champions in 2006, they have only reached the play-offs once.

But they have made big strides since Alex Sanderson took up the director of rugby role in January 2021 as he tries to turn them into a Premiership force once again.

The victory leaves them well placed for a top-two finish and a possible home semi-final for the chance to reach Twickenham for the first time in 17 years.

As for Leicester, they are now 10 points behind Sale and will have to do it the hard way if they are to defend their crown.

This was a difficult night as they suffered their heaviest defeat of the season and suffered a catalogue of injuries. Things were so bad that replacement hooker Gabriel Oghre finished the game at centre.

Their former head coach and new England boss Steve Borthwick was in the stands, along with Kevin Sinfield, in a crowd of 9,491, the highest at the AJ Bell Stadium this season, as Sale showed why they have the meanest defence in the Premiership as they repelled early Tigers pressure deep within their own half.

Leicester were awarded a number of penalties, but despite being able to call on the boot of South Africa World Cup winner Pollard, who kicked 20 points as the Springboks defeated England in the 2019 World Cup final in Yokohama, they opted to kick to the corner in search of a try but ultimately to no avail.

And when Sale got into opposing territory, they had little hesitation in asking Rob du Preez to kick a hat-trick of penalties to get the scoreboard moving.

They extended that lead further thanks to a slick handling move across the backs featuring full-back Luke James and Arron Reed ended with Reed’s opposite wing O’Flaherty touching down.

Reed thought he had put the game out of Leicester’s reach at the end of the half but after a long deliberation by the TMO, it was deemed that he had knocked on rather than added a second try.

The home side looked the more threatening at the start of the second half, but a loose pass by Du Preez allowed Pollard to run in an interception for his first Premiership try on his first start.

Yet there was a gasp of disbelief when the fly-half sliced his conversion way off target from his only effort from the tee.

Any hopes of a comeback were short-lived as a typical Manu Tuilagi burst opened a hole in the visitors’ defence and the resulting pressure saw prop McIntyre claim the try.

A penalty try saw the advantage grow further and with Leicester replacement Sean Jansen shown a yellow card, the bonus point was inevitable.

Replacement hooker Ewan Ashman delivered it and there was still time for Du Preez to run in a fifth try.

Former England scrum half Joe Simpson, on his final appearance before retirement, failed to add the champagne moment by missing the conversion, but it did not dampen the mood of excitement building among Sharks supporters.

Sale Sharks defence coach Mike Forshaw:

“We thought it would be an arm wrestle, we didn’t expect to put 40 points on them. But if you nail your set-pieces and your defence, you win games.

“You have to look at who’s sat in the stand [for us], George Ford, a world class 10, Raffi Quirke, an England scrum half, Bevan Rodd. It’s a juicy prospect to have that artillery coming back with what we already have.

“We need more nights like this, as playing in front of a crowd like this is a massive advantage to us.”

Leicester Tigers interim head coach Richard Wigglesworth:

“We started quite well, we were aggressive and went for points but we didn’t score.

“If you don’t take your chances at maul when you’re close to the line, it feels like you’re going to be on the back foot all game.

“Before we knew it, we were 16-0 down at half time and it was always going to be a long way back from there.

[on Handre Pollard]: “Handre was only due to play 40 minutes but we managed him for as long as we could. He’s new to this team and new to us, but you can see his class. He will only get better and better for us.”

Sale Sharks: L James; Reed, S James, Tuilagi, O’Flaherty; R du Preez, Warr; McIntyre, Van der Merwe, Schonert, Wiese, Hill, T Curry, B Curry (capt), JL du Preez.

Replacements: Ashman, Harrison, Harper, Beuamont, Ross, Simpson, Curtis, McGuigan.

Leicester Tigers: Steward; Watson, Porter, Kelly, Potter; Pollard, van Poortvliet; Whitcombe, Clare, Cole, Wells, Chessum, Liebenberg (capt), Reffell, Cracknell.

Replacements: Oghre, Leatigaga, Heyes, Green, Jansen, Youngs, Burns, Ashton.

Referee: Matthew Carley.