Sale Sharks target Gallagher Premiership play-offs after huge win over Exeter Chiefs - 'Dream is still alive'

Sale Sharks’ 41-5 win over Exeter Chiefs means that, despite sitting eighth in the league, they are within five points of the Gallagher Premiership Rugby play-off places - and Tom Roebuck said that their "dream is still alive".

Roebuck scored a hat-trick of tries as Sale Sharks kept their play-off hopes alive by blowing away Exeter Chiefs at the AJ Bell Stadium.

The Premiership has witnessed a slew of entertaining and high-scoring games in recent weeks and the table has never been tighter, with just seven points separating second-place Bath and Sale in eighth.

Roebuck, whose hat-trick of tries earned him a well-deserved Player of the Match medal, is confident the dream of making the play-offs is still alive after his side’s bonus-point win.

"There was probably more of a need for us to win, actually," Roebuck said on TNT Sports. "If we want to keep these title hopes alive and get back to the final that we enjoyed so much last year, we need to play well and need to turn up in every game.

"The dream is still alive. We will always say it's still alive until it's absolutely dead. We've just got to focus on game by game.

"It's going to be a real grind for us over these next four games, and come the end of it, we'll see what we get."

Sale travel to Swansea to take on Ospreys in the EPCR Challenge Cup round of 16, live on TNT Sports and discovery+ on Saturday, April 6, and return to Premiership action on April 21 against fourth-place Harlequins.

Alongside Roebuck's standout performance, Ben Curry made his long-awaited return after two months out injured, producing a physically strong display.

Talking to TNT Sports after the game, the flanker admitted that every game is "do or die".

He said: "Through our own fault, we've backed ourselves into a corner, haven't we? If you look at the rest of the season, it's do or die every game.

"It's got to mean something more than the other team and I think we showed that today.

"It is do or die... it's the easy thing doing it once, the next thing is backing it up. We'll have a couple days off but to be honest, I'm really excited to see what this group can do now."

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