The 'big difference' between Sale this season and last

Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson believes an attacking verve has helped Sale make a strong start to the Gallagher Premiership season.

Sale ran in five tries to see off London Irish at the AJ Bell Stadium.

They made it five wins from five and hit the top of the table in the process with Sanderson now equipped with all the materials to build on last season’s sixth-placed finish.

He said: “The defence has always been resolute and physical, but what they’re doing in attack nowadays, scoring 37 points is probably the big difference between this season and last.

“That’s what I’m talking about, the basics, you just have to convert when you’re five metres out, and the options were there. It’s a technical fix, it’s an easy fix.

“We were really mature in terms of some of the things that didn’t go our way. The team stuck to the task and they were playing in the right areas, used the conditions, it was a pretty cold and wet night out there.

“The kicks gave us those field positions and ultimately the points.

“Everyone works hard but seemingly things are clicking right now, the lads are talking about it, about being on the same page, not just socially and emotionally, but in terms of the game model and what they’re going after and it seems to flow a lot more and flow a lot better.”

Sale were the better side throughout but the visitors managed to land two perfect counter-punches to stay in the game.

Ollie Hassell-Collins pounced on a spilled restart to reduce the deficit at 15-0 and Benhard van Rensburg responded with a score seven minutes after Sale’s third try.

But Roebuck dived in between the boot which, allied to Rob du Preez’s boot and a fifth from Ewan Ashman, proved too much for the visitors.

London Irish director of rugby Declan Kidney said: “We have to give credit to Sale, they came out with a good game, and unless you’re on your game with them, you’re going to get results like that.

“They probably won the gain line both in attack and defence and when you do that the game is always going to be that little bit more difficult for us and we need to look at that from our side, how we can change that, some decisions that we make.

“Most teams in this league get into a rich vein of form, they’re pretty much there at the moment. Once they got a foothold in the match, they had plenty to play for, so we just needed to put them under pressure in a few different aspects of the game.”