Newcastle restored some pride after last week’s Bristol hammering but Sale still kept up their revived push for the play-offs with a bonus-point win.
The Falcons gave as good as they got for long spells in a tough, injury-strewn forwards battle, and dragged themselves level in the second half after going behind to tries from Ben Curry and Joe Carpenter.
Guy Pepper and Tim Cardall replied from close range, but Sale responded with Luke Cowan-Dickie, Tom Roebuck and Rob Du Preez putting them out of sight.
Newcastle have lost all 16 league games so far this season, while Sale’s third consecutive win moved them to within two points of fourth-placed Bristol ahead of their final games, against Leicester and Saracens.
After leaking 13 tries to go down 85-14 to the Bears a week ago, Newcastle consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond had called for the team to hit back, and they certainly made Sale work hard for their victory in front of Kingston Park’s largest crowd for five and a half seasons.
Newcastle enjoyed 60% possession in the first half and hammered away at the Sale line, especially after Sharks prop James Harper was sin-binned for making shoulder contact with Elliott Obatoyinbo’s head.
Sale weathered the storm and when a series of penalties took them up the other end, a neat change of direction from Curry in a maul saw the England back rower crash over for the opening try.
When Manu Tuilagi smashed through an attempted Rory Jennings tackle and slipped a pass for Carpenter to add another, Falcons fans were fearing another big defeat.
The team responded, and after more concerted pressure on the visitors’ line, Pepper forced his way over and Brett Connon’s extras put them within one score.
Early in the second half, Newcastle drew level when lock Tim Cardall forced his way over for his first try for the club, and Connon again converted.
That spurred Sale into action and as their maul exerted its influence and Falcons started to run out of steam, Cowan-Dickie burst over, and Gus Warr’s sharp dash and pass sent Tom Roebuck in to settle the result.
Sale crowned the win with a showpiece team try, storming forward with a series of slick offloads and dazzling passes before Dub Preez finished and George Ford made it five conversions from five