Diamond hails Sale performance

Steve Diamond praised his side following yesterday's Premiership victory over Bath at the AJ Bell Stadium, saying they thoroughly deserved the four points.

Tries from Ben Curry, Denny Solomona and Josh Charnley helped the Sharks to a 27-24 victory over Bath, to send the crowd of 8,304 home happy.

After the game, he said: "We scrapped it out well. Our young lads have gained massive experience, and Peter Stringer came on to win us the game. He controlled the last 5 minutes; I'm really chuffed for them. We had two young props on the bench, in Jake Pope and Diogo Ferreira. I thought Jake Pope did a marvellous job, when he came on.

"We built up a lead against Gloucester and Leicester away and let it slip, the side's not in a good place when we travel away at the minute, so our inconsistencies are evident, that's why we are 10th in the league."

He praised man-of-the-match AJ MacGinty who bossed the game from start to finish: "AJ was outstanding today. His all-round game was brilliant; he was a huge threat today. Defensively he's brilliant and his goal kicking is right up there, credit to Jon Callard who's done a lot of work with him."

He confirmed that Josh Beaumont was OK following his injury but revealed that Rob Webber has broken his arm.

When asked about the players leaving the squad, Diamond commented: "Mike Phillips has been here a year and been fantastic. Sammy T has been here six years and he's been brilliant for the club and me.

"It's pretty sad, as not many want to leave, but our position in the league dictates the quality of what we've had this year to be honest, and we've got to decide what a win is. I know that we don't lose any money, we've got four lads in the England squad, a plethora of players coming through and Simon and Ged have put their hand in the pocket, and we're going to be spending more money on the team. We've got to get it economically right – we've got two signings in the bag, and we'll be a different proposition next season."