Gloucester blitz leaves Sale in trouble

Sale chairman Brian Kennedy, the force behind their rise as a Premiership force, walked out of Kingsholm before the end in protest at the Manchester club's ' humiliating' collapse.

By the time his ragged team, 8-6 up just before half-time, took refuge in the dressing-room after conceding 38 points without reply, the 41-year-old Scot was strapping himself into his new helicopter for the flight back to Cheshire. Sale, runners-up to Leicester last season, had been blitzed 44-8, and Kennedy was in no mood to hang around for the after-match pleasantries.

' Men against boys,' he said. 'It was humiliating and that's why I walked out with 10 minutes left. I know it's not very nice but I couldn't watch any more. We were humiliated by the performance and by the way we capitulated. I'm sure I'll feel better on Monday morning but it's certainly brought our feet back down to earth with a bump.'

Kennedy, a rare breed of Premiership owner in that he has played the game for most of his life, has sunk £2.5m into the club during his two years in charge but is not yet ready to abandon his long-term ambitions for Sale.

That they had their noses in front until first-half stoppage time made their subsequent collapse all the more alarming.

Henry Paul, watched by England coach Clive Woodward from the terraces, opened the floodgates, spinning over from close range after Springbok wing Thinus Delport had been stopped short of the line. True to form, Gloucester had switched him once more, from fly half to full back, which allowed them to bank

on Ludovic Mercier and his trusty left foot at stand-off.

Woodward had spoken to Paul before the match, explaining why he had failed to make England's top 50 for the two- day training exercise starting this morning. 'You have to be brutally honest because you can only pick so many players,' said Woodward.