Sale Sharks beat Gloucester 27-10 in Premiership opener

Sale Sharks overturned an early Gloucester lead to claim a 27-10 victory in the opening round of the 2025-26 Gallagher Premiership at CorpAcq Stadium in Manchester on Thursday night. The hosts ran in three second-half tries, including scores from Joe Carpenter and Hyron Andrews, to secure a bonus-point win after Jack Clement had given the Cherry and Whites a 10-5 half-time advantage.

The match began evenly but took a turn in the 16th minute when Tom Roebuck finished in the corner to put Sale ahead following a TMO check that overruled what appeared to be a preceding knock-on. Gloucester hit back on the stroke of half-time when Clement crossed from a lineout move finished by flyhalf Ross Byrne, who earlier kicked a penalty. Tomos Williams, making his first appearance since a hamstring injury on the British and Irish Lions tour, was prominent in the move that led to Gloucester's try.

The second half belonged to Sale. With Clement sin-binned on 50 minutes for bringing down a maul, debutant hooker Nathan Jibulu, named in some accounts as Jibulus, drove over to level the scores before George Ford's conversion nudged the hosts back in front. Ford then produced a sweeping long pass to...