Yet having been on the ropes for so long, the Sharks hit back with virtually their first visit to the Leicester line when a spell of pressure ended with Ford feeding du Preez’s run under the posts.
The crowd were on their feet to welcome long-time servants Cole and Youngs on to home turf one last time, but the momentum and energy seemed to be all with the visitors who levelled through Ford’s third penalty with 15 minutes left.
Yet it was another Tigers replacement, Perese, who stole the show almost instantly, hitting the line at full tilt just inside the Sale half and scorching away on a diagonal run to the left corner.
Chessum went close to sealing the match after Freddie Steward’s try-saving tackle on Du Preez and Emeka Ilione had made a crucial turnover in front of his own posts.
And in a frantic finale, the Tigers had to summon up one last huge defensive push in front of their own line to withstand a late, late Sale surge and ensure it would be them who made it to Twickenham next weekend.
Leicester Tigers head coach Michael Cheika told Radio Leicester:
“It was tough. First half I thought we were excellent, and second half I thought Sale upped their game.
“We didn’t go backwards or drop our game but maybe we didn’t have enough impact forward to keep them away.
“I always knew it would be a game that would go right down to the wire. Once you’re ready for a game like that and think about it mentally then when it comes you’re okay with it and I think we handled that pretty well.
“We need to go up a level that’s for sure, so it will be on us as coaches to give the lads some tips on how they can get up that extra level.”
Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson told Radio Manchester:
“It’s crushing. The season crashes to a very abrupt end in the semi-finals when you’re hoping and have planned for something more.
“I don’t think we deserved to get to a final on that performance.
“I thought how they (Leicester) played in terms of their game plan and how they executed it – aerial contests and scrums on what was a slippy pitch, I thought they played that game very well and deserved to win by a few more if I’m honest.
“We came right back into it, scored a try and those moments when you’ve just scored are the ones when you can’t take a collective breath.
“So to concede so quickly after scoring opens the door for them again and after that it was always a difficult task on that kind of day with the form they were in.”
Leicester: Steward, Radwan, Kata, Woodward, Hassell-Collins, Pollard, Van Poortvliet; Smith, Montoya, Hayes, Henderson, Chessum, Liebenberg, Reffell, Cracknell.
Replacements: Clare, Cronin, Cole, Rogerson, Ilione, Youngs, Volavola, Perese.
Sale: Carpenter, Roebuck, Robert du Preez, Ma’asi-White, Reed, Ford, Quirke; Rodd, Cowan-Dickie, Opoku-Fordjour, Van Rhyn, Hill, Tom Curry, Ben Curry, Jean-Luc du Preez.
Replacements: McElroy, McIntyre, John, Bamber, Dan du Preez, Warr, James, O’Flaherty.
