Newcastle head coach Alan Tait was left to lament a poor start after his side slumped to a 27-19 defeat to Sale.
Falcons boss left disappointed after defeat to Sale
Newcastle head coach Alan Tait was left to lament his side's poor start after the Aviva Premiership's bottom club slumped to a 27-19 defeat to Sale.
The Falcons trailed 16-0 after 22 minutes and although they battled back to make the final scoreline more respectable, the damage could not be repaired.
Tait's side could not prevent themselves coming away empty-handed and are now six points adrift of 11th-placed Worcester having played a game more.
"It was 30 minutes before we actually woke ourselves up. I've spoken to the guys after the game and that was a disappointing start," Tait said of the performance.
"I think mentally a lot of players didn't prepare themselves for the challenge that was ahead. Full marks to Sale, I've watched them a lot on the video trying to analyse their game.
"Although they don't have as many big stars as they had in the past, they do work hard for one another."
Jimmy Gopperth scored 14 points for the visitors at Edgeley Park, but the prolific fly-half lost his kicking battle with Nick Macleod, who notched 17 points from the tee.
Improvement
Sale executive director of sport Steve Diamond was pleased with the victory but insisted there is still plenty of room for improvement.
"It's where we're at really; we play well in the first half and potentially could blow them away," Diamond said.
"Sides get into us a little bit but fair play; we managed to weather the storm and finished strongly. We probably scored the try against the grain, but that's the way it goes.
"With a player like Gopperth who kicks everything soccer-style from everywhere, it's difficult, but I don't think we were in massive danger of conceding tries.
"Our ill-discipline let us down a bit and he was knocking them over from all over the show, so we'll work on that.
"But it's half-time in the league and I'm pretty happy about it."
After losing to Exeter in November, the Sharks have now won their last four games in all competitions but Diamond admits they are still smarting from that disappointing defeat.
He added: "Exeter gets mentioned every day to them. The mentality is that if you give a side a sniff then they can always get back in it.
"With seven points per score with a good goal-kicker, you're never far away are you? You've got to be 30 or 40 points away before you can relax."
