Sale v Exeter: Premiership match predictions, where to watch and free tip

Free rugby tips, best bets and analysis for Sale v Exeter in the Premiership on Friday

Where to watch

BT Sport 2, 7.45pm Friday

Best bet

Sale to win by one to 12 points
1pt 9-5 BoyleSports

Match preview

Sale have lost their last two Premiership matches to drop out of the top four but they can stop the rot with a home clash against champions Exeter.

Alex Sanderson took over as director of rugby at the Sharks last month and oversaw wins against Leicester and Bristol before running into in-form sides Bath and Harlequins.

Home defeat to Bath was a disappointment but Sale have World Cup winners Faf de Klerk and Lood de Jager back in the starting line-up and we can expect to see another steely defensive display that typified their performances earlier in the campaign.

Prior to those defeats Sale had kept their opponents below the 20-point mark in six of their eight Premiership matches. They also conceded no more than two tries in each of those eight games and are still the only team yet to concede a try-bonus point this season.

Conversely they have only once scored four tries in a match - in their opening-day win over Northampton which was also the only time they have topped 30 points.

This looks set to be a tight, low-scoring clash between teams out to get back to winning ways and Sale's strong line-up can get the better of a visiting side missing their international stars.

Exeter suffered a bizarre defeat last week when a conversion attempt that could have won it at the death was charged down, but the Chiefs should have been in a more dominant position and appear to have lost the cutting edge they showed when opening the season with four straight bonus-point wins.

The champions racked up 136 points in those four matches, but the subsequent six games have yielded a total of 86, and their last three away matches have seen totals of 15, 21 and 5.

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport