Saracens 33-22 Sale: Alex Goode stars as Sarries maintain winning run

Alex Goode became the all-time leader in games played with a 12-point haul as the leaders held off Sale.

The former England full-back, who became the most capped player in the history of the club, celebrated with their opening score.

The home side fought back from a 15-5 deficit to win.

That gave them a 10 point lead and kept their flawless record intact.

Tom O'Flaherty had an early try ruled out when television replays showed a forward pass, but Sale dominated the rest of the first half.

Ben Curry scored the first try of the game in the fifth minute, taking the ball over off the back of a maul, but Sarries responded immediately with a try by Andy Goode.

Rob du Preez scored a penalty try after Ben Earl was yellow-carded for collapsing a maul to give the Sharks a 15-5 lead.

The league leaders battled back, with the league's leading scorer, Elliot Daly, kicking a 45 yard penalty before the league's second leading scorer, Theo McFarland, scored a try.

After Earl scampered through for a try soon after the restart, Saracens appeared to be coasting, but when Daly hit a long-range penalty to make it 26-15, they appeared to be in trouble.

Sale thought they had reduced the deficit through Tommy Taylor when he scored, but he was ruled out for a double movement.

With 20 minutes to go, Joe Carpenter gave the Sharks renewed hope, forcing his way over in the corner for a converted try, and they continued to dominate the scrum, even after they had regained their strength.

After the home defence held firm, Tompkins pounced on a grubber kick five minutes from the end to give the visitors a four-try bonus point.

'He's consistently brilliant' - McCall on Goode

The director of rugby heaped praise on the full-back after he became the club's all-time appearance-holder.

"Alex's performance against Sale was as it always is, because I don't think there's been a more consistent player in the last decade," said McCall.

He performs at a consistently brilliant level.

Our younger players were amazed by what they saw when we watched a highlights video of him on Friday.

He's been an amazing player and also an amazing person for the club. He likes a final and a post- final.

He is great with our younger players. Our younger players are fortunate that he takes the time to teach them.

Alex is the director of rugby.

We were three points down at the half, but there were opportunities missed.

The way we played the game and the opportunities we created gave us a chance to win the game. No cigar, close but not open.

You have to convert and get over the line if you want to stay in the game.

We didn't take the chance to convert the pressure.

Goode, Lewington, Lozowski, Tompkins, Judge, Hunter-Hill, McFarland, Christie and Earl are members of the team.

Replacements: Lewis, Flynn, Riccioni, Kitchener, Knight, DeHaas, Hallett.

Reed, S James, S Hill, O'Flaherty, R du Preez, Warr, McIntyre, Taylor, Schonert, B Curry, and D du Preez were all part of the sale.

Replacements include Ashman, Harrison, Postlethwaite, Dugdale, Simpson, McGuigan.

There was a referee, Wayne Barnes.