LONDON: Sale captain Josh Beaumont led by example as the visitors shattered Leicester's unbeaten Premiership home record with a gritty 10-3 victory at Welford Road on Saturday.
Beaumont scored the winning try in the 62nd minute to earn Sale only their second success at Leicester since 2003.
The number eight's try and Danny Cipriani's conversion broke the deadlock of a hard-fought match which had been level at 3-3 since the 32nd minute.
Leicester started the match as one of three teams with 100 per cent home records - the other being Saracens and Exeter - but never really found the form which had got them into third place.
But for five penalty misses by fly-half Cipriani, Sale, who have now lost only once in eight games, would have won by a bigger margin.
"I'm sure we will have a stop-off on the way home," Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond said when asked if his players would celebrate with a post-match drink.
"It was a tough fight but we just managed to get that score from a line-out and drive and we are delighted with the win."
Ben Foden showed England head coach Eddie Jones what he is missing as the full-back scored a late try to lead Northampton to a 27-23 victory over Harlequins at The Stoop.
England centre Luther Burrell also reminded Jones of his talents on the day the Six Nations got underway as he scored one try and set up another for Christian Day.
Those two tries and the boot of Stephen Myler gave Northampton a 17-14 lead at half-time, with the hosts getting on the scoreboard through tries for George Merrick and Ross Chisholm, with fly-half Nick Evans kicking both conversions.
In a tighter second half Evans added two penalties to JJ Hanrahan's one before the Kiwi's replacement Ben Botica looked to have won the hosts the game with a 72nd-minute three-pointer.
But Botica soon went from hero to villain as with time up he failed to find touch and Saints got the ball into Foden's hand and he secured their first Premiership win since New Year's Day.
Jimmy Gopperth slotted over a late penalty to give Wasps a tense 9-8 victory over Newcastle at the Ricoh Arena.
Newcastle looked to have gained a crucial win in their fight against relegation as they led 8-3 heading into the final five minutes thanks to a try from Nili Latu and a penalty from Andy Goode.
However, three missed kicks from Goode ultimately cost his side dear as Gopperth, having already nailed two penalties, fired over the decisive kick late on.
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