A sub-zero night in Stockport and precious little to excite the watching England coaches and Martin Johnson, the team manager, who will announce his squad for the RBS Six Nations Championship on Wednesday. There were some eye-catching cameos from a Welshman, a Frenchman, an Argentinian and the odd South Sea islander in London Irish colours but nothing of memorable value by an Englishman.

The Sale Sharks triumvirate of Dwayne Peel, Sébastien Chabal and Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe are, unfortunately, not at Johnson’s disposal, but their ferocious determination lay behind Sale’s defeat of the Guinness Premiership leaders in moving up to fourth place. As for the fly-half head-to-head between Shane Geraghty, of London Irish, and Charlie Hodgson, it was a no-contest, with Geraghty looking out of sorts and Sale prevailing thanks to Hodgson’s two penalty goals and dropped goal.

After four successive league losses to the exiles, Sale hung on grimly to the lead provided by a 57th-minute try by Mark Cueto, the former England full back and a possible dark horse for Johnson. “He’s big and strong and back to his best and beating people one on one,” Philippe Saint-Andre, the Sale director of rugby, said. “Martin Johnson was next to me.”

The irony for Johnson during an interminable 99-minute game was that Mike Catt, his 37-year-old former England team-mate, came closest to breaking Sale in a gripping finale before a tackle by Mathew Tait that cannot have escaped the manager’s notice.

The pitch had been de-iced but there was no shortage of frostiness. No sooner had Bob Casey, the London Irish captain, been admonished with Dean Schofield for a shoving match than Chabal was fortunate not to be punished for a push after he had manhandled Topsy Ojo into a hoarding.

Too many moves foundered as a result of chapped hands. The place-kicking was not much better, Geraghty and Peter Hewat, for London Irish, and Luke McAlister and Hodgson missing attempts in a disjointed opening half. Other than Steffon Armitage, the pocket battleship exiles flanker, hitting most things that moved, Johnson’s pencil was mostly redundant.

After scuffed dropped-goal efforts by Hewat and Geraghty, the visiting team’s penetrative runners had more success in opening their account on the half-hour. Geraghty had a couple of goes, Elvis Seveali’i whipped the ball wide and Seilala Mapusua and Hewat dispatched Ojo for a try at the right corner. Geraghty’s conversion struck an upright and Hodgson regained Sale’s lead with a snappily taken dropped goal.

Chris Bell, the Sale wing, failed to profit from Peel’s kick into space and then McAlister’s offload, and a good chance went begging for London Irish when Hewat knocked on Armitage’s inside pass before the break. However, they went in 8-6 ahead thanks to a penalty by Geraghty, whose re-emergence was accompanied by him being sick on the pitch. His problems worsened, as the Sale pack put the squeeze on early and Hodgson’s second penalty nudged the Sharks back in front.

In the continuing attrition, the London Irish defence succumbed to a couple of trademark Chabal charges. That gave Hodgson room to link with Tait and Cueto finished at the corner amid furious scenes. Cueto was sent to the sin-bin for fighting along with David Paice and, with Alex Corbisiero, a replacement prop for the exiles, lasting only a few minutes before being injured, an unsatisfactory game was left with uncontested scrums.

Scorers: Sale Sharks: Try: Cueto (57 min). Penalty goals: Hodgson 2 (8, 49). Dropped goal: Hodgson (36). London Irish: Try: Ojo (29). Penalty goal: Geraghty (40+5).

Scoring sequence: (Sale first): 3-0, 3-5, 6-5, 6-8 (half time), 9-8, 14-8.

Sale Sharks: M Cueto (sin-bin 58-68); C Bell, A Tuilagi (rep: M Tait, 49), L McAlister, D Doherty; C Hodgson, D Peel (rep: R Wigglesworth, 78); L Faure (rep: A Sheridan, 59), M Jones (rep: L Abraham, 42), E Roberts, S Chabal, D Schofield (rep: B Cockbain, 56), C Jones, N Briggs, J M Fernández Lobbe.

London Irish: P Hewat; T Ojo, E Seveali’i (rep: M Catt, 72), S Mapusua, T Homer; S Geraghty, P Hodgson; C Dermody, D Coetzee (rep: D Paice, 41; sin-bin 58-68), T Lea’aetoa (rep: A Corbisiero, 53-59; G Johnson, 59), J Hudson (rep: K Roche, 53), R Casey, D Danaher (rep: R Thorpe, 70), S Armitage, C Hala’ufia.

Referee: A Small.
Attendance: 9,430.