After a dismal showing away to Newcastle last weekend, the Sharks needed victory in this match, and it had to be by a good margin to nurse their points difference back to a positive value. The team was largely the same as was put out against the Falcons, but with a few big names back in the fold, most notably Chabal and Robinson.

On my way to my seat I saw Mark Cueto busying himself in the crowd. I asked him if he wished he were playing. "I do mate, yes." Off he rushed. With a 25-point loss to make up for I bet he did.

Four minutes after kick off came a messy but effective run from a supercharged Chabal, who passed out to Robert Todd who was pushed over the line for the first try of the night. Valentin Courrent missed the resulting conversion by the smallest of margins.

Three minutes later his opposite number, Gordon Ross, missed an unfeasibly long penalty. After the restart came some excellent work from the Sale Sharks and from the massed Sharks supporters. A piece of excellent tackling from Steve Hanley woke the crowd. The Sharks were driving towards the Cheadle End, their rolling maul accompanied by rolling drums and shouts from the crowd. The support seemed to have done the trick, as Oriol Ripol popped across the line for his first try of the night. Courrent neatly converted, scoring his first points in a Sharks shirt. Thirteen minutes in and 12-0 up.

Leeds reacted very well indeed to this early lead however, and there followed a tense few minutes of serious pressure. During this period, and indeed throughout the game, Jason Robinson showed that he is one of the best defensive players in the game. Retirement suits that man. The inevitable try came for Leeds with 22 minutes left to play in the half, when Leeds scrum half Danny Care sneaked across for the score. Ross converted, and the game suddenly looked close again.

Things quietened down for a while. Courrent missed a penalty, Lobbe charged down a kick, Chabal bashed his way upfield. With ten minutes to go Sale were piling on the pressure deep into Leeds territory. A penalty was awarded and Courrent opted to kick for touch rather than go for the points. The resulting lineout led to a textbook try, with Lionel Faure forcing his way into the endzone. Courrent again converted.

How do you follow that? With an absolutely blistering run down the pitch from the one and only Jason Robinson, followed by a maul, a pass out to the right to Oriol Ripol and the fourth try of the night (Ripol's second). Courrent once again converted and the scores stood at 26-7 with only a few minutes remaining in the half.

Leeds' only answer was a successful penalty in the last play of the half. The players left the pitch with the scoreboard reading 26-10.

The second half was only three minutes old when, in a mirror of the first half opener, the forwards powered a colleague over for the score, the prize going this time to Sebastien Bruno. Courrent, kicking boots firmly on, converted: 33-10.

There followed a period that was without scores, but not without incident. Jason White was playing very well indeed, having replaced John Carter at the break, Jason Robinson was doing an excellent job in defence and also as captain. Valentin Courrent went for a sneaky drop goal, which unfortunately went wide. The highlight was perhaps Chabal, however. For reasons best known to himself he was lying deep, when Leeds kicked for territory. The ball went to touch and Chabal threw a one man lineout to himself, before passing to a waiting Robinson.

The scoreless spell was broken with some classic Sale play: another juggernaut run from Robinson, out to Hanley, a breakdown, and then pass after pass along the back line to the sprinting Spaniard Oriol Ripol who touched down for his third of the night. Another conversion from Courrent and Sale had notched up 40 points.

I had been sitting next to a charming woman, Joan Boucher, who is Christian Day's grandmother. Both of us grinning away and the match clearly over I asked her how the game went. "Very good." I couldn't help but agree. But it was not over yet: we were in injury time, but Stave Hanley sprinted over for a well deserved try. Reassuringly he is heading back to form after a nasty leg break.

The final score then was 45 to 10. Sale still lie third in the group table, but with Llanelli having beaten Newcastle there is still a chance. Sale need to beat Llanelli with a bonus point. If Leeds beat Newcastle we are home and dry, if not we need to have a better points difference than Newcastle. A tall order, but things look a lot brighter than they did before this match.