On a freezing night, they were dismantled up front, with their scrum suffering indignities almost unprecedented at this level. Their redoubtable spirit and the generous laxness of Sale's finishing spared them from humiliation – the home side kept dropping the ball near or on the visitors' line.

The scoreline, though, could not disguise the degree to which Leeds were outplayed. They were a distant second in every facet of the game, apart from tackling.

"We were lucky they only got 29," said director of rugby Stuart Lancaster. "We were dominated in most aspects of the game. Our defence was exceptional, and it needed to be, but given our progression, this was a step backwards for us."

Leeds, who also had stand-in captain Joe Bedford stretchered off early on with concussion, looked out of their depth in the first half against a fine side studded with internationals.

In most games, Leeds's pack has been competitive, but the team has been defeated by opponents' extra class behind the scrum. Here, their pack was not competitive, well though they defended. Quickly, this became an exercise in damage limitation.

Somehow they trailed by just 16 points at the interval; Sale could have been 35 points up. With the Sharks losing their impetus, the contest was less one-sided in the second half, although it was played out almost exclusively in Leeds territory.

Leeds started well for a couple of minutes, earning a penalty which Alberto di Bernardo sliced horribly. Thereafter, it was mostly one-way traffic. From a scrum, they lost 20 yards and conceded a penalty. Charlie Hodgson, rarely less than brilliant against Leeds, banged over the first of his seven successful kicks.

Hodgson was winning the battle of the tactical kicking, pinning the visitors back. Sale were also causing huge problems at the lineout, surging through and forcing Leeds to scramble. Every time di Bernardo received the ball, there were men bearing down on him.

Two more penalties from Hodgson made it 9-0. Sale were opening up the Leeds defence with slick play orchestrated by their Halifax-born fly-half, but they were also butchering clear-cut opportunities. They will kick themselves for missing out on a bonus point.

Their lone first-half try stemmed from a rare Leeds foray out of their half. The ball was turned over and Hodgson sent Luke McAlister racing over half-way. The All Black centre looked as though he was going to pass, but suddenly accelerated past Leigh Hinton to the corner.

Di Bernardo, perhaps disorientated by the rare luxury of being able to take a kick in peace, sent his restart out on the full and Sale were on the front foot again, with Sebastien Chabal breaking tackles. Again they lost the ball with the line at their mercy.

Leeds were in danger of being overwhelmed. Biggs, as ever, provided some cheer, managing to create a spark out of nothing by zipping his way through a cluster of would-be tacklers.

Opportunities to escape the yoke were infrequent, and di Bernardo wasted one by failing to find touch with a penalty.

Nevertheless, Leeds were still just about in the game at the break and within a minute of the restart, di Bernardo had pulled back three points. The closing of the gap was short-lived, Hodgson restoring the 16-point cushion seconds afterwards.

Ten minutes into the second half, the visitors suffered the indignity of being shoved off their own ball for the second time in the match. Sale's scrum then surged forward 10 yards. Leeds conceded a penalty and were grateful that their opponents spared them further embarrassment by opting to kick it.

The game degenerated and there was no further score until, with Leeds replacement Adam Balding in the sin-bin, Chris Bell went over against his former club.

Resilience in itself, though, is not enough to avoid relegation. Leeds will await news of Worcester's match at Harlequins today with fingers crossed, but they will not pick up any points playing like this.

Sale Sharks: Cueto; Mayor (Laharrague 44), McAlister, Thomas (Bell 51), Ripol; Hodgson, Wigglesworth (Cliff 77); Faure (Halsall 75), Bruno (Briggs 67), Turner; Cockbain, Schofield; Cox, Lund (JM Fernandez Lobbe 49), Chabal (Bonner Evans 76).

Leeds Carnegie: Hinton; Holtby, Hepworth, Blackett (Vickerman 69), Biggs (Tuilagi h-t); di Bernardo, Bedford (Brooks 26); MacDonald, Ma'asi (Parkes 69), McGee (Cusack 51); E Lund, Bouza (Myall 51); Dunbar, Clark, Oakley (Balding h-t).

Referee: D Richards (RFU).

Scorers – Sale: Tries: McAlister, Bell; cons: Hodgson 2; pens: Hodgson 5.

Leeds: pen: di Bernardo.

Att: 8,006.