DECLAN’S SALE VERDICT

Declan Kidney admitted he was disappointed with aspects of London Irish’s play in Sunday’s defeat to Sale Sharks at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Irish fell to a heavy 41-13 defeat in Round 14, to the disappointment of the Exiles’ Director of Rugby.

“Our character isn’t in question, but maybe our execution in a few areas needs looking at” he said.

“In this league, you’re going to get punished if you’re slightly off it, especially against good teams like Sale.

“We coughed up a few small ones which made the final scoreline look emphatic.

“There were a few areas in defence and attack that we know we can do better at - and we’ll work on those for next week.

“We won’t get carried away by the defeat - just as we don’t get carried away when we win games.”

He added: “Sale played well. They’re a good side.

“They didn’t give up any easy yards to us which is a credit to them. You know how much power they have and we didn’t deal with that, which was disappointing.

“There’s plenty of areas that are within our own control to rectify - but all credit to Sale, they played well.”