Opposition view: Sale 'thoroughly beaten in most areas' by Saints
Sale Sharks boss Alex Sanderson admitted his side were 'thoroughly beaten in most areas' in their 47-21 defeat at Saints on Saturday afternoon.
The Sharks shipped seven tries as Phil Dowson's men secured an impressive bonus-point Gallagher PREM success at a sold-out cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.
And Sanderson said: "The scoreline reflected the difference in the teams.
"It was a tough one to take, not in terms of the outcome because we were thoroughly beaten in most areas.
"It's not a back-to-the-drawing-board scenario. In terms of strategy, that's on the coaches because in the first half it was a plan that kind of fed them on the counter.
"There were some work rate issues from the lads and they said that at half-time. I felt that got better as the game went on in some aspects.
"But basics, it was the whole game and you can't play the game without the ball. We lost a lot of ball again in the set piece.
"Then, when you're down there, you've got to make teams pay, and I don't think we were clinical enough in the opposition 22.
"We haven't got time to kick stones, to sulk because we've got five days to pull tight and turn it around when we welcome Quins with some proper northern hospitality.
"We'll get back in, we'll pull tight, we'll welcome some of our internationals back from injury.
"I'm not saying we need them right now but they're good additions to our team and we'll push hard, endeavour to do what we've done over the past few years in defying some of the odds and being really competitive in the second half of the season.
"We have an incredible group of people, a team I'm so privileged to be part of so when we find ourselves in adversity with our backs against the wall, as we are now, invariably we find the best of ourselves. We turn, we regroup, we fight and we scrap for each other. Ultimately, that's what it comes down to.
"Taking nothing away from the lads like Alex Wills, Tom Burrow, Ollie Davies and Tumy (Onasanya) because they're young lads who have shown they can compete at this level, but they're not a Bevan Rodd or a George Ford or a Joe Carpenter or a Tom Roebuck - we've got these lads to come and bolster us.
"When you marry that up with some team spirit, real high game intelligence and experience then magic starts to happen so we're going to need a bit of Christmas magic on Boxing Day."