London Irish head coach Toby Booth pointed an accusing finger at his players after they were thumped 39-14 at Sale in the LV= Cup.
Head coach dismayed by standard of Edgeley Park performance
London Irish head coach Toby Booth slammed his players after they went down 39-14 to Sale Sharks in the LV= Cup.
The Exiles had won 39-26 at home in the Aviva Premiership clash between the sides the previous weekend but this time were on the receiving end as a youthful Sale outfit scored six tries.
A ninth-minute score from local product Tom Brady put the hosts in control before Fergus Mulchrone (two) and Iain Thornley also went over to establish a 25-0 interval lead.
Rhys Crane and Chris Leck added further tries in the second half against an understrength Irish outfit showing 12 changes to the side that started last weekend's match.
Although Irish hit back with two late tries from Marland Yarde and Chris Hala'ufia, both of which Chris Malone converted, Booth insisted there was no justification for such an abject display.
Stark
"From a youngsters' point of view, you get some very stark feedback of where they are in their progression after a performance like that," he said. "We've come off second-best and rightfully so.
"There have been some other performances tonight from some more established players who we would have expected better from and we cannot dress over that.
"When you pull on that jersey with a London Irish badge on it, there is a level of performance that is acceptable and unacceptable.
"Some of that tonight was not up to the required standard and we will be taking that up with the right people after the weekend.
"To concede like we did - so easily at times - is very disappointing and we'll be making sure we address that."
The plaudits belonged to Sale on a night when many of their youngsters rose to the challenge in style.
Sharks coach Byron Hayward singled out fly-half Rob Miller for special praise after he orchestrated the victory.
"I thought Rob Miller ran the game really well from behind the scrum," said Hayward of the former Newcastle man.
"It was great to see the youngsters coming through; the boys that have been playing for the Jets.
Enjoyment
"We tried to get it over to the guys this week that it's about enjoyment and getting their heads up and expresssing themselves.
"That's exactly what they did and with a bit more accuracy on the end of a few more moves we could have scored a few more tries."
The only negative for Sale was an early injury which forced Brady out of the match.
Hayward added: "Hopefully we can get him back as soon as possible because Tom has had a great start to the season and is another player to have come through the system here."
