Deacon is delighted as Sale survive fightback

SALE coach Paul Deacon was delighted with his side’s resilience after they were forced to withstand late pressure to defeat Northampton 18-15 at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Will Cliff’s penalty had taken the Sharks in front, adding to tries from Faf de Klerk and Ben Curry, but Northampton almost snatched the victory late on.

However, Sale managed to hold out and end their frustrating run of three Aviva Premiership games without a win.

Deacon was disappointed by the team’s display in the opening period but the coach, stepping in for banned director of rugby Steve Diamond, insisted there was a vast improvement following the interval.

He said: “We panicked a little bit with the weather conditions and I thought we went into our shells. “We spoke about that and I thought we changed our mindset quite well, and it was pleasing to get through that tough period at the end. “I can never doubt the players’ character, they’re in it together, they’re a close group of blokes and going two tries behind and coming back shows that. “That’s never in doubt, it’s just that sometimes things don’t go our way but, fortunately for us, it went our way this time.”

Despite the victory, Deacon believes Sale can still develop their game significantly after struggling to put away the Saints.

“Four points was the goal and we achieved it, but there are things we can do better and things we can learn from that game, especially when the weather’s going to be like that,” he added.

Sale moved to within two points of the Saints in the league table following their victory.

We panicked a little bit with the weather conditions and I thought we went into our shells Paul Deacon