Bristol let slip a 6-0 lead as Sale fought back to take a seven-point half-time lead in their Guinness Premiership clash at Edgeley Park.

Two Adrian Jarvis had given Bristol, with head coach Richard Hill conspicuous by his absence, a deserved early advantage.

But an Eifion Roberts try shortly before half-time – as well as eight points from the boot of Charlie Hodgson – put the title chasers in charge at the break.

Bristol took the lead inside the opening four minutes following some excellent play from Tom Arscott.

The makeshift full-back, again in the side for his injured brother Luke, kicked down-field, won the chase and was only stopped 10 metres short.

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

Arscott then survived being charged down, before Bristol regained the initiative.

The visitors 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.

Hodgson's cute inside ball released Chris Bell for Sale – but his long pass to Oriol Ripol travelled forward and a good chance was wasted.

And Hodgson then failed to punish Bristol when they failed to release the ball, sending his first penalty of the evening wide of the left upright.

Sale then failed to capitalise on a promising attack as they knocked on after accurately completing several phases deep in the Bristol 22.

But they 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. And, after a couple of attempts to pick up and go over from the ruck, prop Roberts eventually crashed his way over. Hodgson's conversion gave 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 Sharks: N Macleod; C Bell, M Tait, R Keil, O Ripol; C Hodgson, D Peel; L Faure, S Bruno (N Briggs 38), E Roberts, S Chabal, D Schofield, C Jones, L Abraham, J M Fernandez Lobbe (capt). Reps: M Jones, S Turner, S Cox, C Leck, L Thomas, S Kuadey.

Scorers: Try – Roberts. Con – Hodgson. Pens – Hodgson (2).

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

Scorers: Pens – Jarvis (2)