Aviva Premiership: Steve Diamond full of praise for Sale after gutsy and vital win

Steve Diamond: Celebrating four vital points for Sale

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Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond praised his side for their determination after the vital 14-13 win over Bath.

The Sharks moved six points clear of the Aviva Premiership's bottom side London Welsh after overcoming awful conditions and coming back from 10-9 down to snatch victory thanks to a late try from Tom Brady.

With the Exiles awaiting news on the appeal against their five-point deduction, the victory gave the Sharks a little more breathing space in case that decision is overturned.

"We were fortunate to get off the bottom of the league with the thing what happened with London Welsh, but we've done all right at home since Boxing Day," Diamond said.

"We've been beaten by a couple of the top-four sides and Montpellier but it's (the Salford City Stadium) starting to become a little bit of a home.

"In the first half I thought the conditions were all over the shop and we won fair and square, and in the second half we had good composure in the last 10 15 minutes.

"Tom came on and scored a good try. There wasn't much rugby played out there but in those conditions you can't really expect it."

Bath head coach Gary Gold feels the defeat ends any chances they had of making it into the top-four at the end of the season.

Written off

Gold said: "We came in here today setting ourselves goals and objectives to hopefully be in the top four. That's probably gone now but never say never. We'll probably be written off by everybody now so we've got a lot to prove.

"It was incredibly frustrating. It was always going to be a game of very small margins. The character shown by the guys after being 9-3 down at half-time was good.

"It's difficult to say whether we were the masters of our own demise. Both lineouts struggled, a couple of calls went our way and a couple of calls went their way. I think there were a couple of basic things that we could have done better and our lineout could have functioned better."