Sale Sharks stung by five-star Wasps

Wasps ran in five tries in 51 minutes to secure a thumping 41-16 Aviva Premiership victory over mid-table rivals Sale Sharks this afternoon.

Joe Simpson contributed two of those with a quickfire brace either side of the interval as Wasps won comfortably again at their new Ricoh Arena home.

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It took Andy Goode only two minutes to kick Wasps into a lead which was cancelled out by Joe Ford's penalty, but quickly restored by James Haskell's try.

The England flanker's effort was one of three created by the influential Christian Wade, whose hand-offs to Nathan Hughes and Simpson helped the hosts establish a 27-9 advantage at the break.

Having crossed the line on the stroke of the interval, Simpson touched down again four minutes into the second half and Wasps' position was strengthened further through Ashley Johnson's 51st-minute try.

Goode produced a record-breaking kicking display last week and picked up where he left off as he ended with a 100% conversation rate. Two more Ford penalties was all that the Sharks could muster until late on.

Andrei Ostrikov's consolation score on 76 minutes was Sale's first try of the match and was not nearly enough to prevent Wasps from going five points clear of them in the table, having been level prior to kickoff.