Nightmare kicking sees Exiles lose to Sharks

London Irish 6 Sale Sharks 9

American fly-half Mike Hercus kicked third-place Sale Sharks to the most unlikely of Zurich Premiership victories over London Irish.

Hercus, stand-in for England number 10 Charlie Hodgson, landed two first-half penalties and a 40-metre drop-goal as Sale built up a 9-0 lead against the run of play and then clung on for victory.

But that was only achieved thanks to a nightmare kicking display by London Irish’s usually dependable Mark Mapletoft.

Mapletoft missed his first four penalty shots – two of them from relatively easy positions – and was also wide of the target with two drop-goal attempts.

He finally got it right to open his account when his fifth penalty shot, from in front of the posts, went over in the seventh minute of first-half injury time.

Three minutes into the second half Mapletoft hit the target with his second penalty from seven attempts but then he narrowly missed a long-range effort in the 71st minute which would have salvaged a draw for Irish.

London Irish’s fifth-successive league defeat leaves them in danger of being dragged into the relegation dogfight.