Outside centre Henry Slade had an afternoon to remember as he scored 20 of Exeter’s points with two tries, two conversions and two penalties, while second row Will Witty grabbed the other try for Rob Baxter’s charges.

Sale, who line up in this season’s Heineken Champions Cup Pool A - the same pool as Exeter, will rue the dismissal of outside centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg on 52 minutes for making contact to the head of an opponent.

Sale prop Ross Harrison opened the scoring after three minutes and replacement hooker Ewan Ashman touched down late for the hosts, who trailed 13-10 when Van Rensburg was given his marching orders.

In the United Rugby Championship, four-time European Cup winners Leinster Rugby held off Dragons in a defensive battle at Rodney Parade, the Irish province coming out on top 7-6.

Leo Cullen’s side led 7-0 at the break, No.8 Max Deegan notching the only try of the contest against EPCR Challenge Cup contenders Dragons and Ross Byrne adding the extras. Sam Davies booted two second-half penalties for the Welsh region in response.

In the TOP 14, ASM Clermont Auvergne relied heavily on the boot of scrum-half Camille Lopez in their 26-17 win over Racing 92 at the Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin.

Lopez contributed 21 points via seven penalties for three-time European Cup runners-up Clermont, for whom wing Alivereti Raka notched their only try in the second half.

Racing – who are also three-time runners-up in the European Cup – led 10-6 at the break through prop Hassane Kolingar’s try and scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec’s penalty. Le Garrec added a try of his own in the second period, but it was Clermont who took the plaudits.

2020 Heineken Champions Cup winners Exeter Chiefs secured their first Gallagher Premiership victory of the season - at the third attempt - with a 25-15 win at Sale Sharks on Sunday.