Deano: Steals won us the game

NEWCASTLE boss Dean Richards praised their lineout defence after locks Calum Green and Will Witty caused severe problems for the Sale set-piece.

“I thought our lineout was the thing that kept us in the game,” Richards said.

“The lineout steals that we had were outstanding, we must have stolen something like seven or eight of their lineouts in the game which is unheard of.

“We get into our locks week in week out about the lack of lineout steals and the coaches as well so, for them, they will be sitting there rubbing their hands with glee.”

Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond admitted they did not do the simple things well enough to win the contest.

“We won’t make excuses, we were poor,” Diamond said. “We didn’t finish when we had the ball and for the first 30 minutes we couldn’t get the ball, so we had various problems in all areas.”