Playing with an urgency they never showed against Newbury in the cup the previous week, Sale overwhelmed bottom-of-the-table London Irish in a free-flowing second half display at Heywood Road yesterday, thus completing their first double of the season by claiming their first Premiership victory since November 9th.

The visitors might have scented their first away League win of the season when they led 13-8 after the opening quarter, but the Manchester club always had too much guile and flair, and in Simon Mannix had the ideal man to run the show.

Though a mere five points adrift at half-time, and with victory looking still a possibility, the Exiles hit the self-destruct button immediately after the break, gifting Sale 11 points in as many minutes to surrender any initiative they might have found.

Sale had looked vulnerable early on, especially in the set-pieces. Their scrummaging was ineffective and their line-out work, where they had little answer to Gabriel Fulcher, was a near disaster. Yet they increasingly improvised to get back into contention in the battle for possession and, by the end, looked the better side in all departments.

The visitors, and the Ireland international squad, were unfortunate to lose scrum-half Niall Hogan with a cut eye as early as the 10th minute.

For the Irish, new recruits Nick Harvey, an Australian, and Issac Feaunati from Western Samoa, made an impressive early impact, driving deeply into Sale territory to set up a penalty after only two minutes by Niall Woods. Their lose play continued to cause Sale problems, but could not prevent Mannix levelling in similar fashion within 60 seconds.

Then, from the out-half's long pass, Jos Baxendell broke clear with Tom Beim to put Pat Sanderson over with a well-timed inside pass.

A counterattack sparked by Woods earned the wing his second penalty, and Fulcher's domination at the line-out paid off when he led a drive from which Justin Fitzpatrick touched down, with Woods converting.

Despite limited possession, Sale's back row, Sanderson and Dion O'Cuinneagain especially, proved dangerous on the break and used the ball smartly. It was Kevin Ellis, though, who primed and finished the move that earned Sale the first of their five tries. A conversion and further penalty by Mannix put the home side back into the driving seat.

After their sloppy re-start, in which they conceded two more penalties to Mannix and then a try for Bell, Sale's confidence simply blossomed. Further tries were added by the powerful Yates and Sanderson as Sale completed only their fourth League victory of the season.

Sale: Mallinder (capt); Rees, Baxendell, Yates, Beim; Mannix, Ellis; Williamson, Diamond, Bell, Baldwin, Raiwalui, O'Grady, Sanderson, O'Cuinneagain. Replace- ments: Driver for Williamson (40 mins), Howarth for Baxendell (62 mins), Erskine for O'Cuinneagain (64 mins), Dawe for Diamond (64 mins), Murphy for Baldwin (74 mins).

London Irish: O'Shea (capt); Bishop, Burrows, McCall, Woods; Humphreys, Hogan; Fitzpatrick, Kellam, Halpin, Harvey, Fulcher, Spicer, Dawson, Feaunati. Replacements: Richards for Hogan (9 mins), Burns for Richards (66 mins).

Referee: D Chapman (Yorkshire).