The Welsh region will still qualify for the Challenge Cup through their points, but the opposition will not be known until the final pool match has been played in the competition.
The Dragons had everything to play for after taking a bonus point win from hard hitting French side Castres last weekend, however with just one change made to the winning team this evening the Dragons lost out to the English Premiership team.
The match didn’t start well for the Region as Sale Sharks dominated from kick off and with Welsh International Hallam Amos being given a yellow card in the 10th minute the pressure was on to keep Sale Sharks out of the try scoring zone. However Sale Sharks began their point scoring extravaganza with a penalty kick from Danny Cipriani.
It was Brian Mujati who scored their first try of the evening, making the most of their man advantage with Cipriani converting the try. Sale Sharks weren’t finished there however with referee Andrew Brace pinging the Dragons with numerous scrum infringements he awarded the home team a penalty try; once again Cipriani converted the try seeing the scores get to 17-0.
With the first half coming to an end Sale Sharks had one more attack and they made the most of it with their skipper Josh Beaumont crossing the white wash and thy try being converted.
Half Time: Sale Sharks 24 – Newport Gwent Dragons 0
The second half saw another Sale Sharks try be scored by Nev Edwards within a few minutes of the whilst being blown for the second half. With Sale Sharks leading the Dragons 31-0 Director of Rugby Lyn Jones ordered four substitutions with a full change in the front row as well as Matthew Screech replacing Cory Hill.
But from a solid scrum came the Dragons first and only try of the evening; with them claiming the ball from the scrum and getting it out to centre Adam Hughes who made a lovely break only to offload to wing Ashton Hewitt to cross the try line. The difficult conversion was missed by fullback Geraint Rhys Jones.
But it was Sale who had the final say of the night with a try, as fullback Mike Haley crossed in the final stages of the match.
Full Time: Sale Sharks 38 – Newport Gwent Dragons 5
