Northampton boss Jim Mallinder lavished praise on Jamie Elliott after the teenage wing starred on his Premiership debut.
"Everything he did was very good," Saints boss says of debutant
Northampton boss Jim Mallinder lavished praise on Jamie Elliott on Friday after his decision to hand the teenage wing a Premiership debut was rewarded in full against Sale.
The 18-year-old produced a clever assist for Greig Tonks' 55th-minute score and then scored a try of his own five minutes from time as Saints won 19-10 to go top of the table.
Saints director of rugby Mallinder said: "How good can Jamie be? Who knows.
"Sale is a tough, tough place to come and make your Premiership debut but Jamie handled himself really well.
"He had a great game. The lad is only 18 and he's inexperienced but he's been playing well for us in the LV= Cup.
"He came in tonight and took his opportunity, scoring a try himself and having a hand in the Tonks try. Everything he did was very good."
Sale showed desire in front of their home crowd at Edgeley Park and took the lead in the first half when former Northampton wing Ben Cohen scored with an exhilarating breakaway effort.
But three penalties from Stephen Myler put Northampton 9-7 ahead at the break and the interventions of Elliott and Tonks then handed them breathing space.
"It's just a win," added Mallinder, before switching his thoughts to next weekend's home clash against title rivals London Irish.
"Away wins are really hard to come by and particularly coming up here on a Friday - the lads have been sat in a hotel all day - it's not the best.
"But we're delighted. We've got the win, four points, and we'll go back down the motorway very contented."
On the impending clash with the Exiles, Mallinder added: "It should be a cracking game next week because we don't like losing at home.
"We don't like losing anywhere to be honest."
Positives
Sale head coach Mike Brewer said on Thursday that he was under no illusions as to the size of the task his side faced, but still took plenty of positives from their display.
"We've got a long way to go and we're probably two years away from being as efficient as Northampton," said Brewer, after watching the Sharks fail to pick up a losing bonus point.
"As I said to the guys, we're at the start of a journey and in six months' time we will be a better team when we play them again at Franklin's Gardens.
"I am very happy with the performance but I'm hurting that we lost because we thought we could have won the match."
Meanwhile, Sale forward Aston Croall succumbed to a medial ligament injury in the match and is expected to be sidelined for two to three weeks.
