Alex Sanderson hails 'class act' Rob du Preez for match-winning display as Sale Sharks beat Leicester Tigers in thriller

Sale Sharks head coach Alex Sanderson heaped praise on Rob du Preez as the fly-half turned in a player-of-the-match performance to consign Leicester Tigers to a second consecutive loss in the Gallagher Premiership.

The South African playmaker was in inspired form, displaying his full array of skills and scoring the decisive try of the match as Sale made it two wins from two with a 24-17 victory at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.

“He’s just a class act,” Sanderson said, live on TNT Sports. “Aside from the miss passes, he’s driving at the line, he’s attacking the line so much better so he’s a real threat and we saw that with the two or three breaks he made today, let alone the try that sealed the game.

“And he can kick and he’s a nice lad to boot so he’s a triple threat.”

The Tigers got off to a superb start when former England international Mike Brown touched down in the eighth minute in front of a fervent home support.

But the visitors hit back almost immediately when Tom Roebuck was put in under the posts as the game descended into a series of blows and counter-blows.

And at the heart of everything Sale did was Du Preez. The 30-year-old was a constant threat with the ball in hand, making line breaks and throwing miss passes to keep the Tigers guessing, before he scored the match-winning try his performance deserved after a superb finish.

“[I was] just happy I could do it for the team. Raffi [Quirke] did a great job there fixing the inside defenders it made my life pretty easy,” Du Preez said.

“We knew they would be a wounded, sore Tigers team based on last week’s performance, we knew they’d come out firing and they did. They scored first and the boys just stuck to the plan and we reacted to everything they threw at us.

“2-0 to start the season, the only thing we could ask for is the bonus point in both games, but I reckon you take that all day long, especially coming down here [in front of] 20,000 fans. Great shift from the boys.”

The win took Sale into fourth in the Premiership standings, two points behind Bath, while Leicester sit ninth, above only Saracens at the foot of the table.

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