Planet Rugby

Cueto relieved with win

07th November 2012 11:29

Mark Cueto Sale Sharks AVP 2012

Confidence restored: Mark Cueto

Sale Sharks wing Mark Cueto hopes his side's first victory in the Aviva Premiership this season will set the tone for the rest of their campaign.

Sale ended a seven-match losing streak in the Premiership after beating London Irish 21-9 at City of Salford Stadium last Friday, and the former England flyer admitted the victory felt like they had "won the league".

The Sharks were deserved winners after scoring the only two tries of the match in the first half through Nick Macleod and Johnny Leota, and while they remain bottom of the table, victory moves them to within four points of London Irish and London Welsh.

"The pressure is on massively, it's such a tight league. Any team can beat any team on any day and that's testament to how good the Premiership is," Cueto told the Manchester Evening News.

"We don't change too much, obviously little things here and there, but you need results.

"It doesn't matter if you're in your first season in the Premiership or your 10th it's still a simple game.

"Hopefully, the boys will have a bit of confidence now. We've had a few games where we should have won, we should have won at Worcester, but when you're in that hole it's difficult to see games out.

"We were leading against Saracens but lost the game so we know we're not far off. But you can't keep talking about confidence and belief if you haven't got results. Hopefully, off the back of this, we can build."

Victory was the perfect way to end a tumultuous week for the former champions, after the removal of Bryan Redpath as director of rugby.

Redpath was then installed as head coach, with chief executive Steve Diamond putting himself in charge of first-team duties.

On this evidence it is a move that has paid dividends just in time to give Sale realistic hope of salvaging their season - and their place in the top flight.

"It's been crazy with Brush sort of leaving and then coming back in, and we said before the game we're the only people that can affect what goes on," added the 32-year-old Cueto.

"The more games you lose the more bullets fly and rightly so - the guys at the top of the club have put in a lot of money.

"It's like Dimes said, in any walk of life if you don't perform then you're under pressure. It was a huge result for the players and for the club."

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