Diamond Hails Sharks After Quins’ Scalp

Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond felt they were well worth their 28-17 Premiership victory over Harlequins on Friday evening.

The hosts led 19-14 at the break but did not have things their own way as Quins scored two first-half tries, with Mike Brown scoring his 90th for the Londoners early in the contest.

AJ MacGinty then slotted three penalties as Sale took the lead before Jack Clifford collected a Danny Care chip and touched down in the corner as the visitors responded.

MacGinty’s fourth three-pointer reduced the deficit to two points before Byron McGuigan intercepted a Demetri Catrakilis pass to give Sale a half-time advantage.

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MacGinty added three more penalties after the interval, while replacement Marcus Smith split the uprights for Quins, but it was not enough as the men from the Stoop fell to a third successive defeat. Diamond felt it was a decent contest and believes his charges deserved to take the points. “I thought it was a good game – a proper game of rugby,” he said.

“We took some collateral damage with Rohan (Janse van Rensburg) with a hamstring and Bryn (Evans) with a cheekbone, so it was a physical game, but overall I think we deserved to win. “We had a sloppy start and we couldn’t cope with Danny Care and their hooker early doors, and they got that try. “But apart from that we got field position and, under pressure, they gave a lot of penalties away and AJ kept us ticking over.”