The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Thursday January 4 2007

In the rugby match report below we said in error that Bristol had conceded one try in their last six games when they conceded five tries against Leicester in one match on December 22.

A new year but a familiar outcome for battle-hardened Bristol, whose head coach, Richard Hill, is still struggling to grasp the fact that a team widely expected to find itself in a relegation scrap is leading the Premiership with more than half the programme gone.

Yesterday's victory, achieved in typically attritional style and built on an unyielding defence, kept Bristol ahead of Leicester and 11 points clear of Sale. The champions, beset by injuries, are struggling to stay in the top half of the table and secure a Heineken Cup berth next season.

It was never going to be a pretty contest with heavy rain falling on a pitch denuded of grass in several patches. Sale had only scored one try here in their previous three league matches and Bristol boasted the meanest defence in the Premiership, having conceded one try in their last six, a sequence that included victory over Sale in a tryless encounter at the Memorial Stadium in November.

The conditions made handling hazardous but did not fully explain the howlers that haunted the afternoon. The most notable feature of a dire first 65 minutes, which Sale dominated only to freeze when the tryline beckoned, was the way the referee, Dave Pearson, interpreted the amendment to the scrum law which came into force yesterday. The aim of the change is to stop front-row forwards charging at each other before engagement; they have to touch each other after crouching before pausing and then engaging. Pearson required the front rows to be within touching distance, proving it with a quick tap on shoulders before, sometimes after a quick step back, crunching into each other.

So much for the International Rugby Board's desire for front rows to manoeuvre themselves into scrums in order to minimise the chance of a collapse. Southern hemisphere officials are sure to be more conscious of the spirit of the change, making the set-piece less confrontational. Ironically, the scrums became uncontested yesterday 20 minutes from the end, when Sale ran out of fit props at a time when they were a man down.

Bristol, who had had the advantage up front, bristled at the move but scored the game's only try from the first uncontested scrum 12 minutes from time, awarded after Jason Robinson had been forced to boot the ball out near his own posts following a deliciously weighted grubber kick by David Hill. The No8 Dan Ward-Smith picked up and was surprised to be confronted by space where Juan-Martin Fernandez Lobbe should have been.

Sale claimed the Argentina flanker had been taken out off the ball by Matt Salter but Pearson was unmoved. "It was cheating and I am very cross the try was awarded," said the Sale director of rugby, Philippe Saint-André. "Lobbe had his jersey grabbed and I warned the referee beforehand because Bristol used the same tactic against Bath last week. I admire the spirit they show, but this was a game we should have won."

Hill, who had a sparky exchange with Saint-André at the end, was angry that the scrums became uncontested when Sale were down to 14 men, with the hooker Sébastien Bruno in the sin-bin for striking Salter. "I found it confusing and disappointing," he said. "They shot themselves in the foot because we scored our try from an uncontested scrum."

A messy, shapeless game, pointless for the first 30 minutes, exploded into life in the final minutes. Sale can use injuries as an excuse for their fall from the top but even allowing for the conditions their skill levels, especially behind the scrum, were execrable. The situation was summed up in the final second when the fly-half Daniel Larrechea, needing to keep the ball alive and with men outside him in Bristol's 22, clumsily hoofed it dead.

With the exception of two flankers - Sale's Magnus Lund, outstanding in defence and attack, and Bristol's Alfie To'oala, who imposed himself on the game physically and denied Sale what would have been the match-winning try a minute from the end when he forced a turnover on his own line - everyone struggled to rise above the conditions.

Bristol's back three were horribly vulnerable under the high ball and after the wing Lee Robinson finally caught a steepler just as the countdown clock had reached zero, he held on to the ball instead of kicking it dead and ended up conceding a penalty. Sale were unable to take advantage and coach Saint-André despaired, whereas Hill could not stop smiling. "Our position is unbelievable and it was a great way to start the new year, winning a game that the opposition dominated."

Sale Robinson; Foden, Taylor, Bell, Mayor; Larrechea,

Wigglesworth; Faure (Bonner-Evans, 61), Bruno, Turner (Stewart, 40; Cox, 70), Schofield, Day, JM Fernandez Lobbe, Lund, Chabal (Titterrell, 56).

Pens Larrechea 2

Sin-bin Bruno (55)

Bristol C Morgan; Robinson, Cox, Taumalolo, Lemi; Hill,

O'Riordan; Clarke (Hilton, 67), Regan, Crompton, Winters, Llewellyn, To'oala, El Abd (Salter, 25), Ward-Smith.

Try Ward-Smith Con Hill Pen Hill

Referee D Pearson (Northumberland) Attendance 9,422