Diamond: Their big pack took control

SALE’S director of rugby Steve Diamond was full of his praise for his live-wire Springbok scrum-half, Faf De Klerk.

“Despite us losing, Faf was man of the match as he brings what people want to see,” Diamond said.

“It was always going to be tight and the first half went very well but we didn’t take our chances.

“We gave away silly penalties and the pitch was heavy. We are not used to playing on a surface like that and it sapped our energy levels.

“I was disappointed with parts of our play but they had a big pack of forwards who were backed by a large crowd and they controlled the game better.

“I would have liked the four points but we’ve still got six points from our last two games, so we’ll have to dust ourselves down and go again against Harlequins next week.”

Gloucester flanker, Lewis Ludlow said: “Sale had a good win last week and are flying high so we knew it would be a battle.

“We dug in, which we probably wouldn’t have done last year. There were two good defences going hard at each other so we are grateful for Billy (Twelvetrees) getting us over the line.”