Sale Sharks have been the Premiership’s nearly men this decade, finishing the top half of the table in all six years, four times making the play-offs and reaching the final in 2023.

But the trophy has eluded them while Exeter, Harlequins, Leicester, Saracens, Northampton and Bath have all taken it home.
There as a time when consistently high finishes would have been regarded as a measure of success at Sale, but not any more.
They have gone from a side that lacked the means to spend up to the salary cap to one of the best backed in the Premiership.
There have tended to stumble taking the final...