Sharks coach Anglesea unmoved by Sale’s growing relegation fears

Quins were 15 points up before the end of the first quarter and Sale never looked like clawing their way back into the game.

Anglesea said: “We needed to start well but, like last week, we didn’t (19-7 home defeat against Bath). We made the same mistakes. Our execution let us down.

“We let points in early doors and it’s difficult to chase a game in these conditions as we forced too many passes.”

Despite Sale’s defeat, they still hold an eight-point advantage over Newcastle and an 11-point cushion over Leeds as they battle to avoid relegation.

“Fortunately, we are not in the mire at present, but we are looking over our shoulders,” Anglesea said. “We need a bit of confidence and a bounce of a ball to go our way.

“We are getting players back – Tom Brady, Andrew Sheridan and Jack Forster – and we have a few more to come back in the next week or so.

“One or two players make all the difference.”

Sheridan played for 70 minutes yesterday and showed no ill-effects.

“He’s fine,” Anglesea said. “[England manager] Martin Johnson contacted us earlier in the week and wanted him to have a run-out to test his back.”

The Quins’ win was their seventh Premiership victory of the season and moved them up to fifth in the table – much to the delight of their director of rugby, Conor O’Shea.

“I’m very pleased,” he said. “The conditions were horrific.

“We started fantastically. It was a reaction to last week’s performance at Exeter (20-6 defeat).

“In the second half we lacked accuracy but our defence was outstanding. It’s unbelievable how hard they work for one another.”

Rory Clegg stood in for Nick Evans at fly-half for the Quins and controlled matters efficiently, kicking 11 points.

O’Shea added of his No 10: “Clegg was outstanding for us. He was up against a top-class opponent in Charlie Hodgson and lacked nothing in comparison.”

The home team had the more creative runners, and up front, Joe Gray and Chris Robshaw were the pick of a dominant pack.

Gray went past some indifferent tackling from the visitors for the score which Clegg converted on 13 minutes. Minutes later, Sale were further behind when the outstanding Mike Brown kicked ahead, collected and scored to put his side 15-0 ahead at the end of the first quarter.

The hosts continued to dominate proceedings but poor line-out work prevented them from building up any sustained pressure.

Sale had offered precious little attack in the first half-hour but suddenly from nowhere Ben Cohen burst away to beat three defenders to set up a Hodgson penalty.

Clegg and Hodgson traded penalties either side of half-time before Clegg again with the boot made it 21-6.

Stout defence from Sale kept Quins out as Gray and Robshaw made strong bursts for the try line. The game deteriorated as the second half progressed with neither side threatening the whitewash and it was left to Hodgson to have the final say with a 30-metre penalty, the only incident of an eminently forgettable half being the late sin-binning of George Lowe and Cohen.