The true significance will not become apparent for another couple of months but this may well prove the most precious win Sale secure all season. Had they lost in Oxford, as frequently seemed likely, the Sharks would have entered the murky twilight zone of relegation probables.
They remain at the foot of the Premiership table but with seven games left, the ripple effect between now and May could be considerable.
Steve Diamond, Sale's director of rugby, looked suitably relieved, conscious the outcome might have been very different had London Welsh capitalised more on their first-half forward dominance. Instead, tries either side of the interval from Will Cliff and the former All Black Dan Braid provided a cushion just about thick enough to survive a late home flurry, leaving Sale just one point behind 11th-placed London Irish. A total of seven points now separate the bottom four clubs in the league, a sure indicator that the basement battle will continue to the bitter and twisted end.
Both Diamond and Welsh's Lyn Jones certainly feel that way, with Diamond suggesting his team were not yet "out of the mire" and Jones repeating his belief that Worcester, now just four points ahead of Welsh, remain vulnerable. Had Nick Scott, a match-winner against Bath earlier this season, spotted a glaring overlap and passed to Tom Arscott outside him in the closing seconds after Welsh had stolen a turnover, the Exiles might have nicked it, but the pressure of these occasions can do strange things to any mind.
How interesting, then, that the game's most conspicuous figure was a certain Gavin Henson, starting his first league match for Welsh for several months. The hard-working Braid may have run the Welsh international close in terms of influencing the scoreline but the quality and variety of Henson's passing was often a joy. In the first half he put Neil Briggs into a previously non-existent space in midfield with a classic delayed offload and also created a wonderful 47th-minute try for Phil MacKenzie, popping a sublime pass into thin air as if he were a conjuror releasing a previously invisible dove.
His duel with Danny Cipriani, billed in some quarters as 'Fancy Dan vs Perma Tan', was equally absorbing for the hour or so it lasted. The pair have entertained bigger audiences but for both this was a timely opportunity to showcase their unusual gifts. While there is no question, on this evidence, which of them will be first back into the Test arena, Cipriani's confidence grew visibly after a nervy start and he was twice involved in the 60-metre move which led Cliff to snatch an unlikely 13-12 interval lead for the visitors.
Only in the lineout did Sale make much headway but, ultimately, Braid enjoyed more joy than Welsh's tough new Argentinian signing Julio Cabello, not least when he burst on to Cameron Shepherd's clever pass flat to the advantage line for the 43rd-minute try which put Sale even further ahead. Welsh realised they had to put more pace on the ball and Tyson Keats's arrival as replacement scrum-half duly provided it. The real poetry in motion, though, was Henson's ball to the speeding MacKenzie, the former's conversion setting up a predictably taut final quarter.
Had Briggs not been held up over the line Sale might have succumbed but Welsh lacked composure at the breakdown and gave away too many soft penalties.
"We were going well and our discipline was good but our knees buckled a little bit," acknowledged Jones. "It's about dealing with pressure and we're not doing that well enough. We didn't take our opportunities but at least we picked up a bonus point which takes us one point closer to Worcester."
He was also encouraged by Henson's attacking contribution – "He was a constant threat to the opposition today" – and is unbothered that five of Welsh's remaining seven games are away from home. "I said before this game that the battle was going to go right to the wire and I still believe that." With Sale due to face Harlequins and Leicester in their next two games, the Sharks's away game at London Irish in late March is destined to be another crucial encounter.
Diamond, for his part, believes his side have "turned a corner" after a grisly start. "The club has a huge heritage dating back 151 years. We've talked about that over the last couple of weeks. We don't want to disappear. We've beaten Exeter by a couple of points and Welsh by one point… if we can keep doing that we'll survive by the skin of our teeth."
Nothing, as he is fully aware, can yet be guaranteed.
London Welsh: T Arscott; MacKenzie, Tiesi, Parker, Scott; Henson, Davies (Keats, 46); Montanella (Bristow, 71), Briggs, Ion (Bateman, 66), Mills (capt), Corker (Kulemin, 67), Balding, Cabello (Hills, 61), Jackson.
Try: MacKenzie. Conversion: Henson. Pens: Davies 4, Henson 2.
Sale Sharks: Shepherd; Amesbury, Leota, Tuitupou, Cueto; Cipriani (McLeod, 64), Cliff (Willis, 61); Dickinson (Harrison, 64), Jones (Taylor, 53), Thomas (Lewis Roberts, 64), Gray, Holmes (Powell, 53), Braid, Seymour (capt; Seymour, 66), Gaskell.
Tries: Cliff, Braid. Conversions: Cipriani 2. Pens: Cipriani 3, McLeod.
Referee: JP Doyle. Att: 4,082.
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