Premiership: Sale Sharks 20-13 Worcester Warriors

Worcester Warriors are now on a six-game run without a win in all competitions

Sale Sharks interim boss Paul Deacon led his side to back-to-back Premiership wins as they beat out-of-form Worcester Warriors.

Faf de Klerk crossed to put Sale ahead before AJ MacGinty's boot sent the Sharks in with a 13-3 half-time lead.

Duncan Weir's pair of penalties either side of the break kept Worcester to within seven points of the hosts.

Skipper Jono Ross ran in late on for the hosts before Worcester were awarded a penalty try in the final stages.

Sale move up two places in the Premiership table to third while Worcester climb above London Irish into 10th thanks to a losing bonus point.

The hosts came into the match without Dan du Preez, who was banned for three weeks following Saturday's ill-tempered win against Gloucester.

Worcester's last game against Harlequins was postponed after Quins recorded positive Covid-19 cases. The four points they earned from that lifted them off the bottom of the Premiership table.

But Warriors, who this week promoted former Wales international forward Jonathan Thomas to the role of head coach, are now without a win in six games.

Their only victory this season was the narrow 11-10 campaign-opening win against London Irish in November.

Sale interim head coach Paul Deacon:

"We're not playing great at the minute but not playing great and winning the last two games are good foundations to start from.

"Winning here at the AJ Bell, where we've lost our last two, was really important. We spoke during the week about the fact we haven't backed up yet this season, so it was good to do it.

"De Klerk's try is the type of thing we need to put together more often. Back up something good with something good, rather than something good and then a mistake. That's the part of our performance we really need to knuckle down."

Worcester head coach Jonathan Thomas:

"We knew coming to the AJ Bell it's always a tough game. We had a few frontline players missing but we spoke to the players about being in the fight; we spoke a lot about mindset.

"When you look at the game, they probably won the aerial battle. But there was nothing in the game between the two teams really.

"We lost a few 50/50s in the air, there was a bit of ill-discipline in the second quarter, a little bit of ill-discipline in the final quarter, but our defence is looking really strong."

Sale Sharks: S James; Roebuck, R du Preez, S Hill, Yarde; MacGinty, De Klerk; Rodd, Van der Merwe, Oosthuizen, Wiese, JP du Preez, Ross (capt), T Curry, Beaumont.

Replacements: Langdon, Morozov, Cooper-Woolley, Phillips, Dugdale, Cliff, L James, McGuigan.

Worcester Warriors: Pennell; Humphries, O Morris, Beck, David; Weir, Hougaard; Waller, Annett, Schonert, Bresler, Clegg, Hill (capt), Kvesic, Mama.

Replacements: Miller, Thmas, Palframan, Merrick, Du Preez, Lewis, Simpson, Shillcock.

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