Sale centre Andy Tuilagi has said sorry for his sin-binning that contributed to his side's 21-16 defeat at Northampton.
Tuilagi makes apology for sin-binning that sunk Sale
Sale's Andy Tuilagi has said sorry for the sin-binning that contributed to his side's 21-16 defeat by Northampton at Franklin's Gardens.
Saints scored twice while Tuilagi was on the bench, Ben Foden and Bruce Reihana touching down to condemn the northern club to their fourth straight Guinness Premiership defeat.
Director of rugby Kingsley Jones revealed that the Samoan centre had made his apology to him during the half-time break with Sale trailing 15-3.
"I don't know what happened," said Jones. "It looks like a guy pushed him when he was on the floor.
"To be honest I wasn't very happy with him at half-time and I let him know that.
"He apologised to me and said wanted to go back on the field for the second half and put it right.
"I gave him that opportunity and I think in the second half he did well and kept his discipline.
"But there is a fine line between being physical and stepping over the mark. I can understand him being angry but we all know what can happen in a 10-minute period with 14 men at this level.
Crucial period
"We were hanging on a little bit but, having said that, it could have been 6-3. But that is all ifs, buts and maybes.
"Instead we went in at half-time with a 15-3 deficit when I felt that five minutes from the end of the half we were going to be in a good position."
Northampton director of rugby Jim Mallinder agreed with his counterpart's view that Tuilagi's absence had been the turning point of the game.
"I suppose the first thing to say was that we are pleased to win," he said.
"The performance was a little bit mixed, we couldn't quite go to that final phase of play to break them down.
"That period at the end of the first half was a crucial period when they lost a player. In the second half one weak scrum cost us and they made a fight of it."
Despite an inconsistent performance, Mallinder was particularly pleased with lock Courtney Lawes, whose powerful performance will have done no harm to his prospects for promotion from the England Saxons to the senior squad.
"His ball carrying was very good," Mallinder added. "He manages to get round the corner and quite often make that extra yard.
"He's learning all the time. It's not my job to pick sides, Martin Johnson will do that.
"He wants to progress slowly into the system. You never know whether he can cope with the step up, do you.
"On that performance today and the two Heineken Cup games he has been very good."