Saints pay the price

Northampton

21 Sale 22 NORTHAMPTON director of rugby Chris Boyd rued missed opportunities after this gut-wrenching defeat.

George Furbank’s kick at the death sailed wide and Boyd (below) admitted:

“We dominated for long periods, but at the end of the day we didn’t convert our pressure into points, we dropped a couple of balls, and it cost us.”

Sale chief Alex Sanderson said: “That was a game we probably should have lost.

“You can only play as well as the opposition allow you to. That was probably our worst performance in four or five weeks.”