Sale Sharks boss Alex Sanderson praised the efforts of Manu Tuilagi but was frustrated by his side’s inability to see out a comfortable half-time lead against London Irish.

The Greater Manchester outfit were 31-14 ahead at the break but the Exiles scored 17 unanswered points in the second period to rescue a draw.

Sanderson’s men were dominant in the first half with Tuilagi very much to the fore and Sale’s director of rugby believes they should have used him more after the interval.

Maul failed to fire

He said: “Tactically, maybe we should have got the ball into his hands a bit more in the second half. We used the driving maul in the second half and as a tactic that didn’t work.

“If I had my time again – and everyone’s a genius with hindsight – I’d probably try to get something into his hands because he was setting us up really well.

“His timing was back to the glory days, he looked really good. It was good to see, especially with him back in the England squad.”

Sale led 31-14 at half-time but the day after Brentford fought back against Liverpool to clinch a 3-3 draw at the same venue, the Sharks shared the fate of Jurgen Klopp’s men.

Full-back Tom Parton ran in two tries to propel the Exiles into contention with a converted Curtis Rona try then levelling the score before a last-gasp penalty by Paddy Jackson that would have snatched victory struck the left post.

“We didn’t get set-piece dominance and lost too much ball at the breakdown,” said Sanderson, whose side left London with a three-point haul.

“We’ve got to be smarter when things aren’t going our way and we were struggling to get the gainline advantage we had in the first half.

“You’ve got to find a way to grab the game and we didn’t change tactics. We weren’t smart in what we did. We were banging our heads against a brick wall.

“We started the second half strongly but it was all Irish for the last 30 minutes. I asked the players afterwards and they said they felt like they’d lost.”

Irish boss Les Kiss praised Parton’s contribution and felt his team displayed the same battling qualities seen from Premier League newcomers Brentford on Saturday night.

“Tom has to be getting closer and closer to England for sure. He is a real mature player and we can build a counter-plan around him,” Kiss said.

“What he did from the backfield was pretty special and our game grew off some of those moments. We were disappointed in that first half but Sale put us under the pump.

“We just couldn’t get our teeth into how we wanted to play and we were the masters of our own grief at times.

“The second-half defence was superb for us, we just knew we left a bit out there. There is a sense of frustration.

“What you saw from Brentford last night is a team that fights for everything and we fought for everything today.”

‘Outstanding’ Joe Marler in contention for the World Cup

England head coach Eddie Jones has revealed that prop Joe Marler wants to be part of their plans for the 2023 World Cup in France.

Jones made a number of interesting decisions ahead of a three-day training camp starting today (Sunday), leaving out the experienced George Ford and Vunipola brothers, Billy and Mako.

Marler has been included, however, despite being 31 years old and withdrawing from the Six Nations in January for family reasons, his destructive role in Quins’ Premiership title triumph evidence of a player operating at the peak of his powers.

“I had a chat to Joe, we went for coffee down at Horsham, had bit of chat and he wants to be part of it,” Jones said.

“His form at the end of the season was outstanding. His effort in the Premiership final and the semi-final was superb.”