Leeds Carnegie played their final pre season game against an experienced Sale Sharks side at Edgeley Park on Friday night and despite losing to the Guinness Premiership outfit Leeds put in an encouraging display ahead of their National One campaign which begins on the 31st August against Nottingham.
After securing victory in their first two pre season games against Connacht and Newcastle, the Carnegie men were hoping to continue their winning run and Neil Back and Andy Key once again chose to give a number of players game time.
It was a lively start and former Leeds player David Doherty proved a threat however the visitors produced good defence to twice keep the Sharks from scoring.  The homeside though took the lead on 13 minutes through Sebastian Bruno who went over for a try thanks to a Luke McAlister break and England international Charlie Hodgson converted.
Leigh Hinton, who was a constant threat for Leeds throughout the first half, came close to scoring when he evaded a number of defenders with a great run in the Sale half, only to be stopped close to the line.  Moments later though Leeds were able to get on the scoreboard when good team play and neat passing led to captain Mike MacDonald running in for his second try of the pre season.  Jason Strange levelled the scores with the conversion in front of the posts.
Charlie Hodgson then edged Sale in front with a penalty on 28 minutes, but Leeds continued to pressure in attack and looked a good match for the Premiership side.
A promising Leeds move however in the 32nd minute led to a Sale try after Mark Cueto intercepted a Leeds pass to Tom Biggs on the wing and he was able to break away upfield.  Some heroic defending from Leigh Hinton though looked like he had prevented the certain try when he brought Cueto down, but Sale were able to recover the ball and Matthew Tait then raced clear under the posts for the try.  Charlie Hodgson once again converted to give Sale a 17-7 lead after 36 minutes.
In the final minute of the first half Chris Jones managed to get the ball down after a Sale surge in the Leeds half and Hodgson landed the conversion to put Sale 24-7 in front going in at the interval.
In the opening stages of the second half Jason Strange landed a penalty for the visitors but former Leeds Carnegie player Andy Tuilagi made a great start to his Sale career when he went over for the first try of the second half after he supported a storming run from Luke McAlister who broke away from the Leeds pack down the centre of the field.  Hodgson extended the lead to 31-10 with the conversion.
Some intricate passing from Richard Wrigglesworth and Charlie Hodgson then helped set up Sale once again with Chris Jones going over for his second try under the posts.  Hodgson continued his success with the boot and converted to stretch Sales' lead to 38-10.
Leeds did not put their heads down though and an impressive Tom Denton pulled a try back for the visitors with 11 minutes remaining, forcing his way over from close range.  Alberto Di Bernardo landed the conversion to bring the score to 38-17.
Richard Welding then marked his return to the side with a great individual try, running from deep in his own half to go over in the corner.  Di Bernardo converted to narrow the deficit to 38-24.
Leeds continued to throw everything at Sale and on the 77th minute after some quick sharp passing from Leeds they were able to whip the ball out to Richard Welding who had the simple job of running in unopposed at the corner for the try.  Di Bernardo missed the difficult conversion leaving the final score 38-29 to Sale. Spirited

Teams:
Sharks - Rory Lamont; Mark Cueto, Mathew Tait, Luke McAlister, David Doherty; Charlie Hodgson, Dwayne Peel; Andrew Sheridan, Sebastien Bruno, Eifion Roberts, Dean Schofield, Sean Cox, Chris Jones, Luke Abraham, Carl Fearns. Reps. Lionel Faure for Sheridan (43), Marc Jones for Bruno (59), Stuart Turner for Roberts (57), Brent Cockbain for C.Jones (68), Mike Hills for Abraham (43-56) & for Fearns (56), Richard Wigglesworth for Peel (47), Nick McLeod for Lamont (64), Nick Royle for Cueto (40), Ross Davies (not used), Andy Tuilagi for Tait (59), Oriol Ripol for Doherty (68).

Leeds Carnegie Leigh Hinton; Scott Armstrong, Jonny Hepworth, James Brooks, Tom Biggs; Jason Strange, Joe Bedford; Mike MacDonald, Phil Nilsen, Tommy McGee, Phil Murphy, Jon Pendlebury, Danny Paul, Hendre Fourie, Rhys Oakley. Reps. Fosi Pala'amo, Rob Rawlinson, Vili Ma'asi, Pete Bucknell, Adam Hopcroft, Andy Boyde, Calum Clark, Tom Denton, James Craig, Scott Mathie, Dan White, Alberto Di Bernardo, Scott Barrow, Adam Greendale, Rob Vickerman, Peter Wackett, Richard Welding, Andy Boyde.