Freeman feels Saints showed 'a lot of heart' during defeat at Sale Sharks

But the England star admits he and his team-mates were 'absolutely gutted' not to get the job done at the Salford Community Stadium.

The black, green and gold pushed Sale all the way to the final whistle, but they couldn't find one final try to win the game.

And Freeman said: "We're obviously gutted to be on the wrong side of the result but we showed a lot of heart out there and we fought to the end, which is what we wanted after last week's game (the 33-0 defeat at home to Leicester Tigers).

"We're unlucky to get that result but there's things to take away and that's pretty positive.

"As the game opened up and we started to move the ball and played how we wanted to play, we asked them some questions.

"We created some tired legs for them and it felt like we were in the driver's seat.

"We knew they would come at us in the first 10 minutes of the second half to try to put us under pressure again.

"With some of the errors and penalties we gave away, they managed to add to the scoreboard so we're gutted with that but credit to the lads for going to the end.

"It was just that bit of accuracy that cost us but we'll get back to the drawing board and get excited for the game against Clermont next week.

"It's a different competition and hopefully we can tighten up those errors to put Clermont under some pressure."

Freeman was harshly yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on early in the game but returned to the field with a bang as he cut Sale apart to score Saints' second try.

He also made an incredible tap tackle on Arron Reed late in the game.

And he was delighted to see his England team-mate Henry Pollock put in a similarly influential performance as the No.8 scored a stunning solo try in the second half.

"I gave away a yellow card so I had to do something and get myself on the right side of everyone," Freeman said.

"I was happy to get over the line, but Pollock's different gravy and fair play to him."