Late tries by Callum Braley and Fraser Dingwall completed an astonishing Northampton Saints fightback to beat 14-man Sale Sharks.

But the Saints roared back, gradually narrowing the deficit to 34-26.

Thomas Collins was the architect of their dramatic late victory, setting up scores for both Braley and Dingwall.

Sale dominated in the maul and opened the scoring in the ninth minute when the ball came out to Rob du Preez, who dabbed a precision kick through for Arron Reed to complete a straightforward try.

The visitors soon found themselves a man short after referee Ian Tempest showed Tuilagi the red card, but they shrugged off that setback to add two further scores in quick succession and open up a 19-point advantage.

Gus Warr's deft flick sent Tom Curry bursting through to mark his return from injury with a try, and du Preez then feinted another kick before stealing through a gap in the Saints' defence to cross the whitewash.

Northampton responded as Freeman released Tom James to score under the posts, but the Sharks reasserted their grip on the game - despite having Jean-Luc du Preez's close-range effort disallowed for an infringement in the build-up.

Sale continued to threaten from the lineout and Ewan Ashman broke through to secure a bonus point and a 24-7 lead just before the interval, although Du Preez's conversion attempt clattered against a post.

The Sharks' fly-half made amends with a penalty just after the restart, but their numbers were further reduced when Cobus Wiese's high tackle on Fin Smith earned him a yellow card.

That offered Northampton a glimmer of hope and Freeman launched their comeback, going over off the back of a lineout before setting up Matt Proctor to score in the corner and cut the gap to 27-19.

Sam Dugdale seemed to have made the points safe for Sale when he bundled his way over from close range, but they were under pressure again when Ashman was sin-binned and a penalty try awarded for collapsing the maul.

Urged on by the Franklin's Gardens crowd, Saints gradually wore their opponents down and Braley went in under the posts before Collins fed Dingwall, who finished off a sweeping move for the decisive try.

The victory lifts Northampton to third place, still 12 points behind Sale in second.

Northampton Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson told BBC Radio Northampton:

"It's our season in a nutshell, really. First half we were very poor, didn't have the ball in our half very much, gave away penalties in the middle of the field and couldn't deal with the maul.

"Conceding four tries in the first half wasn't really acceptable. But what you have to congratulate the players on is the heart, the desire and character to come back and keep fighting.

"I thought we were better than we have been in the past against 14 men and eventually that work paid off because we created opportunities.

"We've got the ability to score tries, but we have to be better defensively."

Sale Sharks director of rugby Alex Sanderson:

"He (Tuilagi) is gutted. He's apologised and said he owes us.

"He fully owns what happened out there and that's the kind of man he is.

"I know he will pay us back, but all of that is tough to take when you're still reeling from a game that we could and probably should have won.

"We went in at half-time with the focus being on defence but we didn't get that part of the game right mentally and they scored 31 points in the second half."

Northampton: Furbank (capt); Freeman, Proctor, Dingwall, Ramm; Smith, James; Waller, Smith, Hill, Ribbans, Moon, Scott-Young, Hinkley, Augustus.

Replacements: Cruse, Waller, Petch, Coles, Graham, Braley, Hutchinson, Collins.

Sale: Carpenter; O'Flaherty, S James, Tuilagi, Reed; Du Preez, Warr; Rodd, Ashman, Schonert, Wiese, Hill, Ross (capt), T Curry, Du Preez

Replacements: Caine, McIntyre, Oosthuizen, Beaumont, Dugdale, Quirke, Ford, Roebuck.

Referee: Ian Tempest