Sale 32 Bristol 13

Bristol Rugby again finished a distant second on the field as they fell to a fifth straight Guinness Premiership defeat – but the main story continued to unfold off the pitch.

Head coach Richard Hill was nowhere to be seen as his side remained rooted to the bottom of the Premiership, increasing speculation that his exit is imminent.

The end of Hill's near six-year rein at the Memorial Stadium is likely to be confirmed within days, provided he can agree the terms of a severance package to ease the blow of his early departure.

Hill still has 16 months remaining on his Bristol contract, but stayed away last night as his assistant Paul Hull – who will take over as head coach – took charge of the side at Edgeley Park.

It is now looking increasingly likely that Hill, who is understood to be in consultation with his legal representatives, took charge of Bristol for the final time in the humiliating 35-3 home defeat against Newcastle.

In his absence, Bristol initially competed fiercely against title-chasing Sale – but they were ultimately unable to build on a hugely impressive first quarter.

Two Adrian Jarvis penalties had given Bristol an early 6-0 lead, only for an Eifion Roberts try and the boot of Charlie Hodgson to see Sale into a 13-6 half-time lead.

And after the break, despite some flashes of genuine promise from the visitors, Sale were able to gain complete control of the contest and add further tries through Juan-Martin Fernandez Lobbe, Nick Macleod and Neil Briggs.

Dan Ward-Smith scored a try in the dying seconds to restore a degree of respectability for Bristol, but the visitors were well beaten.

Defeat leaves Bristol nine points adrift of eleventh-placed Worcester, who have two matches in hand, one of which is today's daunting trip to Leicester.

Bristol took the lead inside the opening four minutes following some excellent play from Tom Arscott. The makeshift full-back, again standing in for his injured brother Luke, kicked down-field, won the chase and was stopped 10 metres short.

But Sale strayed offside as they denied the lively Arscott – and Jarvis made no mistake with the resulting penalty.

The visitors then snatched Sale ball following what had initially appeared to be a clean line-out take, and launched a quick attack which only broke down when Sale infringed.

Jarvis held his nerve to land the penalty from a difficult angle 35 metres out, and Bristol led 6-0 after nine minutes.

Sale were always likely to enjoy long spells of possession, though, and Hodgson's cute inside ball released Chris Bell – only for his long pass to Oriol Ripol to be judged to have travelled forward.

Hodgson then failed to punish Bristol when they did not release the ball, sending his first penalty of the evening wide of the left upright.

But Sale did not have to wait much longer for their first points, Hodgson landing a 45-metre penalty after Bristol had again failed to release the ball.

And, after Bristol's excellent start to the match, Sale began to take control and conjured the game's first try shortly before half-time.

They kicked a penalty to touch, won the line-out and powered up the middle. After a couple of attempts to pick up and go over from the ruck, prop Roberts eventually crashed his way over, with Hodgson's conversion giving Sale a 10-6 lead.

And an injury-time penalty from the England fly-half increased Sale's advantage to seven points heading into the break.

Sale made a bright start to the second period, lock Dean Schofield coming within metres of adding a second Sharks try, only to be brought down as he prepared to strike.

Sale were held up as they tried to force a way over, but from the resulting scrum they extended their lead.

Dwayne Peel broke from the base, and when he was stopped just short, Fernandez Lobbe picked up and went over for the second Sale try. Hodgson nailed the difficult conversion to give his side a 20-6 lead.

Within five minutes, the advantage was 27-6, Hodgson giving a neat pass to the supporting Macleod, who twisted his way to the line despite the close attention of several defenders. Hodgson landed his third successful conversion of the evening.

And Briggs then made it three tries in 10 minutes for the clinical Sharks, as he completed a sweeping team move when he took replacement Selorm Kuadey's pass to cross out wide.

Bristol did not give up the fight, and continued to put pressure on the home defence.

And their persistence brought them some kind of reward when, in the closing minutes, replacement Nathan Brew and Luke Eves went close before Ward-Smith powered over.

Jarvis converted – but it was far too little, far too late to have any kind of impact on the outcome.

Sale Sharks: N Macleod; C Bell, M Tait (L Thomas 65), R Keil, O Ripol (S Kuadey 57); C Hodgson, D Peel (C Leck 71); L Faure (S Turner 60), S Bruno (N Briggs 38), E Roberts, S Chabal (S Cox 41), D Schofield, C Jones, L Abraham (M Jones 65), J-M Fernandez Lobbe (capt).

Scorers: Tries – Roberts, Fernandez Lobbe, Macleod, Briggs. Cons – Hodgson (3). Pens – Hodgson (2).

Bristol: T Arscott (Nathan Brew 60); L Robinson, Neil Brew, L Eves, D Lemi; A Jarvis, S Perry; M Irish (W Thompson 41), S Linklater (D Blaney 60), D Crompton, D Attwood (M Sambucetti 67), N Budgett, A To'oala (R Pennycook 65), J El Abd (capt), D Ward-Smith. Reps not used: G Beveridge, E Barnes.

Scorers: Try – Ward-Smith. Con – Jarvis. Pens – Jarvis (2).

Referee: JP Doyle. Att: 8,605.