Summer rugby is not adding up. Heavy rain and blustery conditions combined with a continued willingness to infringe at the breakdown and a reluctance of the referee to follow up spates of penalties with a yellow card or two made for a largely uninspiring encounter between two clubs who started in third and fourth and reversed positions after Sale made their power tell. A quirk of the fixture list meant that in this round of matches first faced second, third met fourth and fifth encountered sixth, but on this evidence Exeter have only Bristol to worry about as they take aim at a second Premiership title. Wasps were on a run of five bonus-point victories but, on the rare occasions they glimpsed the line here, Sale infringed. Wasps were equally cynical, giving away six penalties in the opening 12 minutes, twice when they were defending their line. They had less excuse than their hosts as the referee, Craig Maxwell‑Keys, was in control of their previous match and had he reached for a card it may have admitted some oxygen to proceedings. Instead, the sides looked to suffocate each other and Sale were the better equipped. Eddie Jones was among a clutch of England coaches in the ground, continuing his mission to find players capable of playing at a sustained pace. Only the wind showed any speed as AJ MacGinty kicked three penalties to Jimmy Gopperth’s two in the opening period in a trial of strength. There was a surfeit of kicking, as if the sides were trying to find out who had the initial wind advantage, and Sale had the edge up front where the prop Jake Cooper-Woolley left his mark on the ground he used to call home. The set piece was a source of penalties for the Sharks, along with the breakdown. There were 24 penalties in the opening 46 minutes but no yellow card and no warning for Wasps until they had infringed for the 19th time. Sale rested Manu Tuilagi but Rohan Janse van Rensburg offered the same brute force in midfield, targeting Jacob Umaga, whose evening started with a fumble and barely improved: he skewed two penalty kicks to touch and his high tackle on Van Rensburg allowed the Sharks to go into the break ahead. It was not a haven for playmakers and Wasps were unable to break free from the grip of opponents whose pursuit of their first post-lockdown victory was single-minded. Two more MacGinty penalties in the opening 15 minutes of the second half gave Sale a cushion before their pressure turned into a try, Luke James shrugging off the challenges of Dan Robson and Ryan Mills to score after landing over the line on his back and forcing the touchdown. Playing narrowly meant Sale negated the threat of the home side’s jackalling back row, but when Jono Ross was sent to the sin-bin four minutes from time Wasps had the chance to steal a bonus point but Gopperth failed to convert Jack Willis’s late try and Sale clambered above them to third. It was a signal success given the absence of Tuilagi and Tom Curry and the presence of the World Cup winners Faf de Klerk and Lood de Jager on the bench. The Sharks’ director of rugby, Steve Diamond, said: “Exeter and Bristol have sewn up the top two positions and it will be two from the next four – but with no crowds, home advantage is not the same this year.”