The Alex Sanderson update on Tom Curry after halftime removal

Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson paid tribute to his players’ gritty display after they beat Harlequins 12-11 at the Salford Community Stadium in their Premiership opener.

England fly-half George Ford kicked four penalties for Sale with Jack Walker’s first-half try and two penalties from Leigh Halfpenny accounting for the visitors’ points.

It was a largely uneventful encounter with few try-scoring chances and, although Marcus Smith and Danny Care came off the bench for Quins in the second half, Sale ground out a narrow victory.

Sanderson said: “It wasn’t enthralling but it was gritty, hard-fought win – a win being the operative word.

“We know we have to be better if we’re going to compete at the end of the season but I think both teams could say that.

“We both had opportunities in the 22 and we both had half-breaks which we didn’t convert.

“I reckon a score either side would have opened the game up, but as it was it ended up being a bit of a slugfest and stalemate in the middle of the park.

“Neither team were playing a lot of phases before kicking, but I’m really happy with how the lads stuck together to close the game out.”

Fiji skipper Waisea Nayacalevu made his Premiership debut for Sale after joining from Toulon and, fresh from helping England to Under-20s World Championship glory in the summer, Asher Opoku-Fordjour made his first Sharks start at tighthead prop.

Sanderson revealed that England prop Bevan Rodd will undergo a scan on his hamstring injury after being forced off.

Red Rose flanker Tom Curry was replaced at half-time after going off during the first half before returning after passing a Head Injury Assessment.

Sanderson said: “Tom passed his HIA, went back on, and then at half-time we reassessed him again.

“We were just being precautionary with Tom to look after him because we almost have to protect him from himself sometimes.”

Harlequins head coach Danny Wilson could not fault his side’s display but felt flanker Jack Kenningham was denied a legitimate try.

He said: “I thought we had scored from Jack Kenningham’s touchdown and that went against us.

“It was not to be and I knew that decision was going to be massive in a game where there weren’t many chances.

“Once the weather set in before the game, there was quite a bit of wind and rain.

Sale Sharks edged Harlequins in their season opener (PA)

“That made the surface really greasy and early on in the game there was a fair amount of handling errors.

“Ultimately we lost the game, but I was really pleased with how physical we were defensively.

“I thought we knocked them back and won the physical battle, which is a very tough place to come and do that.”

Wilson said captain Alex Dombrandt had picked up a hand injury and would have it x-rayed, adding: “He had to come off and we now need to get him x-rayed and scanned.”