Worcester Warriors.

7 PENNELL - set up Adams’ try with a grubber kick, made some important tackles and was cool under pressure as he landed a late penalty. My man of the match.

6 Heem – sparked his side into life when he gathered a high ball midway through the first half and refused to give in, making a powerful run towards the end.

5 Willison – struggled to hit his straps as he notably ran straight into his teammate Lewis when he went to launch an attack in the opening stages.

5 Mills – has been hugely influencial in the last two weeks but could not find a way through Sale’s resilient defence and seemed a little muddled in his thinking at times.

6 Adams – added to his try-scoring count and was Warriors’ biggest threat with ball in hand but his failure to put Heem clean through proved crucial.

5 Lance – had a bad day at the office as he twice found the hands of Solomona with wayward kicks and struggled to unlock Sharks’ defence.

6 Hougaard – a frustrating night for the scrum-half who did not find his A game and although he played the full 80 minutes he picked up a late blow to his knee.

7 Waller – did his job in what was a solid scrum, winning all 11 from their own put-ins, and worked hard in the loose before being replaced by Bower.

6 Singleton – failed to find his target on a couple of occasions at the lineout as Warriors struggled to turn pressure into points.

7 Schonert – another strong showing from the tighthead prop but worryingly for Worcester he hobbled off with what looked like a hip issue.

6 O’Callaghan –put in a huge 75-minute shift, but his decisions as captain to continually turn down chances to go for goal cost his side precious points.

6 Spencer – pounded away but Sale who were down to 14 men for more than half an hour refused to be broken while the lineout faltered at times.

5 Fa’osiliva – carried strongly but he was unable to atone for his loose pass which gifted Sharks their first try as he made one too many mistakes.

7 LEWIS – was unfortunate to be on the losing side as he gave his all, running hard and making countless tackles, before being forced off with a broken nose.

7 Denton – replacing the injured van Velze, the Scotland number eight was Worcester’s main ball carrier and made an impression.

Replacements: Scotland-Williamson 5 (Lewis 54), Bower (Waller 65), Taufete’e (Singleton 67), Phillips (O’Callaghan 75), Durutalo (Denton 75), Milasinovich (Schonert 77). Not used: Hammond.

Sale: O'Connor; Solomona, James, Van Rensburg (Jennings 65), McGuigan; MacGinty, de Klerk; Harrison, Webber (Neild 66), John (Aulika 68), Evans, Ostrikov, Ross, Curry, Strauss (Ioane 66).

Replacements not used: Flynn, Nott, Cliff, Haley.

Referee: Matthew Carley.

Attendance: 7,326.

RUN OF PLAY.

0-3: MacGinty penalty, 10mins.

0-8: Van Rensburg try, 15mins.

3-8: Pennell penalty, 26mins.

8-8: Adams try, 33mins.

8-11: MacGinty penalty, 40mins.

Half-time: Worcester Warriors 8-11 Sale Sharks.

11-11: Pennell penalty, 62mins.

RED CARD: McGuigan (second yellow card), 66mins.

14-11: Pennell penalty, 67mins.

14-16: Jennings try, 70mins.

14-18: MacGinty converts, 71mins.

Full-time: Worcester Warriors 14-18 Sale Sharks.