Aviva Premiership: George Ford inspires Bath to victory over Sale

George Ford (R): Won fly-half battle with Danny Cipriani

Bath opened their Aviva Premiership campaign with a 29-20 win over Sale as George Ford eclipsed Danny Cipriani in a battle of England fly-halves at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Playing in front of England coach Stuart Lancaster, Ford created the opening try for Anthony Watson and was instrumental again for Semesa Rokoduguni's second-half clincher. He also kicked 19 points.

Cipriani also showed glimpses of class on his 100th Premiership appearance - kicking 10 points - but Bath managed to close out the win and also denied their opponents a losing bonus point.

The Sharks made the worst possible start when Bath opened the scoring after just 45 seconds, Peter Stringer playing the ball to Ford, whose flighted kick allowed Watson to collect and burst clear for a converted score.

Sale attempted to gain a foothold as debutant Chris Cusiter began to combine well with Cipriani and a high kick from Mark Cueto forcing Bath forward Alafoti Fa'osiliva to knock on just short of his own 22-metre line.

Bath, however, always looked capable of catching the hosts on the break and centre Jonathan Joseph almost broke clear inside the left channel in the 22nd minute.

He was caught with a high tackle which resulted in a Bath penalty which Ford converted to stretch the visitors' lead to 10-0.

Sin bin

Moments later, Bath forward Dominic Day was sin-binned for a cynical late challenge on Cipriani which left the former Wasps man needing treatment.

Cipriani rose to his feet to convert the subsequent penalty but Lund soon conceded a penalty shortly after his introduction from the bench and Ford slotted it over to re-establish the 10-point gap.

Sale then forced Bath to furiously defend their line as Will Addison threatened to scamper clear before the ball was finally grounded over the try-line by Mark Jennings.

Cipriani converted and he and Ford traded further penalties before half-time as Bath went in at the break with a 16-13 advantage.

Sale lost Cueto to a leg injury eight minutes after the restart but they largely dominated territory while creating few try-scoring opportunities.

Ford booted another penalty in the 56th minute but the Sharks finally struck a blow in the 65th minute when Sale No 8 Mark Easter burrowed over from close range and Cipriani converted to give the hosts a 20-19 lead.

But Ford then created space to send Rokoduguni over in the right corner with nine minutes remaining before adding the conversion and later a long-range penalty to wrap up the win.