Warrington’s Autumn is fast turning into a season of misses with no sign of mellow fruitfulness following their fourth consecutive loss in the opening matches with this defeat by a well-balanced Sale side. However, the team’s defensive performance was excellent and, although they leaked four tries, their commitment never wavered.

Sale quickly put points on the board when they touched down between the posts after a well-constructed move. It was soon clear that they had the edge in the backs, especially though their excellent stand-off and elusive inside centre but Warrington were competing well up-front, especially in the front row, where Tickle continued to cause damage. However, they had no answer to the slick-handling Sale outfit, who increased their lead with a second converted try and a penalty to turn round 17-0 ahead.

Warrington got onto the scoreboard early in the second half when Newans hit the post with a penalty attempt but the referee allowed the kick to be retaken because of a technical infringement. The young centre made no mistake with his second attempt.

Sale replied with a penalty of their own and then scored their third try when an attempted clearance kick by Warrington failed to find touch and the Sale stand-off made ground before passing to his left wing who crossed in the corner.

Warrington started to compete for the last twenty minutes but still seemed devoid of any attacking flair and it was ironic that their best chances were created by their oldest back, Kevin Jones, who made one strong break only to be stopped ten yards out and then took a clever quick free kick and was just beaten by the bounce of his kick ahead.

Unfortunately, sloppy passing and poor ball retention continued to accompany every Warrington attacking move and it was perhaps fitting that Sale had the last word when their Number 8 pounced on a loose Warrington pass under the posts to allow an easy final conversion.