Zealous defence pays off for Sale

Alex Sanderson marvelled at the willpower of his forwards who disarmed the most explosive rolling maul in the Premiership to end a run of two defeats.

After Gloucester had scored from their first attacking line-out, they had no joy from a weapon that has fired them to a number of victories in the last two seasons as the Sharks defended zealously.

“We worked hard on an area of the game we know Gloucester are good at,” said Sanderson, Sale's director of rugby, who also had praise for second row Josh Beaumont, making his first Premiership start for 18 months after two knee operations. “He is a top bloke who has had rotten luck with injuries,” said Sanderson. “Everyone here is delighted for him.”

It was Gloucester's second defeat of the campaign and coach George Skivington said: “When you consider how many were playing their first Premiership match ever, or for a while, it shows our future is bright.”