Ford drives Sale into Premiership final as Tigers' tamed

George Ford guided Sale into the English Premiership final as they defeated his former club Leicester 21-13 on Sunday to end the reigning champions' hopes of successive titles.

Northwest club Sale will now face Saracens in a 27 May final at Twickenham, with the Sharks bidding to be crowned champions of England for the first time since 2006.

England flyhalf Ford, controlling the match well late on, kicked three penalties and a conversion, while wings Tom Roebuck and Arron Reed both scored tries.

Sale won despite skipper Ben Curry being carried off injured and a determined Leicester display that led to a try for wing Harry Potter, plus eight points from the boot of Jimmy Gopperth.

Leicester's defeat meant former England wing Chris Ashton, the Premiership's record try-scorer, was denied a showpiece finish to his career in what is the 36-year-old's last season before retirement.

But this result might have been different had not Leicester, forced into a late change when South Africa fly-half Handre Pollard was ruled out injured, twice squandered try-scoring chances with poor kicks to touch that prevented attacking line-outs.

After two early Gopperth penalties, Roebuck scored a fine try, with Ford adding a difficult touchline conversion to give hosts Sale a 7-6 half-time lead.

By then, Curry had gone off with a suspected knee injury, while fellow England international Ben Youngs failed to return in the second half for Leicester after a head injury assessment.

Two penalties from Ford either side of Potter's converted try left the match in the balance at 13-13 heading into the final quarter.

But Sale pulled clear when Ford's loose pass was gathered off the deck by Reed for a try before the stand-off's penalty put the Sharks two scores clear.

London club Saracens, who topped the regular season table five points clear of second-placed Sale, beat Northampton 38-15 in Saturday's semifinal.