An entertaining northern derby saw Newcastle Falcons on the end of a narrow defeat at Sale Sharks on Saturday, with an absorbing encounter at Heywood Road supplying tries by the bucketload.

The home side led 28-15 at the break and waited just three minutes to stamp their supremacy – a break down the left and a simple inside pass seeing Ben Curry touching down.

George Ford added the conversion, and did so again just five minutes later after Fiji centre Waisea Nayacelevu powered through the midfield defence to ground Sale’s second try.

Some keen jackal work prevented a third score when Tom O’Flaherty broke down the left and into the Falcons’ 22, only for the home defence to win a penalty from the resulting ruck, but the visitors got themselves off the mark on 13 minutes.

Full-back Louis Brown was the man to score the try, picking up a difficult bouncing ball after fly-half Brett Connon’s deft chip over the advancing Sharks defensive line.

And the Falcons had their second try just before the 20-minute mark when a superb tracking line from Sam Stuart was rewarded with a score – the scrum-half on the end of Alex Hearle’s piercing diagonal run from the left wing.

Connon added the conversion, but his side trailed 21-12 on the half-hour when Sale centre Rob du Preez scored from a close-range crash ball line.

The Falcons chipped three off that margin when Connon slotted a simple penalty from in front of the posts, but Sharks hit back through Nayacelevu’s second try as the Fiji centre rounded off a protracted period of goal-line pressure.

Ford’s conversion put Sale 28-15 up at half-time, but Newcastle rung the changes at half-time and came out fired up, scoring a well-deserved try on 48 minutes when hooker Bryan Byrne ploughed over down the right.

The score came from turnover ball 40 metres out, Hugh O’Sullivan’s kick to the right corner chased down by Adam Radwan, who in turn fed Byrne for the touchdown with Kieran Wilkinson adding the conversion from wide out.

The Falcons reduced Sale’s lead to a single point when James Elliott scored an unconverted try down the right – the scrum-half collecting an inside ball from Radwan as Newcastle identified space out wide and worked the ball towards it.

Sale hit back when scrum-half Raffi Quirke sniped in down the left, and they added to their tally with a powerful try from Ernst van Rhyn on a hard line.

The Falcons weren’t rolling over and Max Pepper sped into the left corner for a try from slick hands along the back line, followed by a similarly scorching try for Radwan in the right corner with the final play.

Connon’s touchline conversion ensured a one-point margin of defeat, with both teams showing plenty of encouraging signs going into the season.

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Louis Brown, 14 Jack Metcalf, 13 Oli Spencer, 12 Cameron Hutchison, 11 Alex Hearle, 10 Brett Connon (captain), 9 Sam Stuart; 1 Luan de Bruin, 2 Ollie Fletcher, 3 Murray McCallum, 4 Adam Scott, 5 John Hawkins, 6 Marcus Tiffen, 7 Josh Bainbridge, 8 Freddie Lockwood.

Replacements: 15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Connor Doherty, 11 Ben Stevenson, 10 Kieran Wilkinson, 9 James Elliott; 1 Adam Brocklebank, 2 Jamie Blamire, 3 Richard Palframan, 4 John Kelly, 5 Kiran McDonald, 6 Cameron Neild, 7 Tom Gordon, 8 Callum Chick, 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Mike Rewcastle, 18 Philip van der Walt, 21 Hugh O’Sullivan, 22 Max Pepper, 23 Ollie Leatherbarrow, [blank shirt] Joe Davis.

Scorers – Tries: Louis Brown, Sam Stuart, Bryan Byrne, James Elliott, Max Pepper, Adam Radwan. Conversions: Brett Connon 2, Kieran Wilkinson. Penalties: Brett Connon.

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Waisea Nayacelevu, 12 Rob du Preez 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 George Ford, 9 Gus Warr; 1 Bevan Rodd 2 Luke Coawn-Dickie, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 5 Hyron Andrews, 6 Tom Curry, 7 Ben Curry (captain), 8 Jean-Luc du Preez.

Replacements: 16 Ethan Caine, 17 Si McIntyre 18 James Harper, 19 Ben Bamber, 20 Tom Burrow, 21 Sam Dugdale, 22 Rouban Birch, 23 Raffi Quirke, 24 Tom Curtis, 25 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 26 Will Addison, 27 Arron Reed, 28 Luke James.

Scorers – Tries: Ben Curry, Waisea Nayacelevu 2, Rob du Preez, Raffi Quirke,Ernst van Rhyn. Conversions: George Ford 4, Rob du Preez.

Referee: Michael Hudson.