Sale were always favourites to win this one and at the end few would argue that the scoreline didn’t fairly reflect the balance of play.

After their hiccoughs at the turn of the year, it was Sale’s third win in succession and, together with Liverpool St Helens, they have opened up clear water at the top of the league.

They are now well on track to achieve their aim of back-to-back promotion into the National Leagues.

They were never in any danger of letting this game slip away from them but they still didn’t have it all their own way. 

Despite more than 60 per cent of the territory and possession, it took them until 60 minutes for flanker Danny Waddy to score the try which, added to Scott Redfern’s two first half penalties, opened up a 13-0 lead.

Even then, they couldn’t sit comfortably in the face of a determined Wolves riposte which yielded a fine try for left winger Tom Rayner.

Sale needed their late second try from right winger Chris Lillee to put the game beyond dispute but the Wolves refused to lie down as they forced Sale to concede a second try in the last play of the game, scored by skipper Mike Black.

The main difference between the two sides was in the aggression with which the Sale players hit the contact areas. 

That’s not to say that the Wolves were coming up short themselves in this aspect of the game but Sale were always able to clean out their own ball quickly and  efficiently and then to make it difficult for the Wolves, who found that they had to operate on slow, messy ball. 

Given the amount of good possession the Sale backs had, they should really have done more with it. 

Unfortunately for them, their handling wasn’t as secure as it might have been and why they consistently tried to bang it up the middle into the face of a resolute hard-tackling Wilmslow defence, when they had the likes of Chris Lillee, a known try scorer and finisher par excellence on the wing, was a mystery. 

In the second half, they appeared to try a change of tactics by using their back row to try and steamroller their way through the Wolves forwards and, while this did have the effect of bottling up the Wolves in their own 22 for long periods, they found the Wolves pack equally uncompromising. 

Eventually it was the failure of a hard pressed set piece to cleanly win a scrum on their lines when they had the chance to and a charged-down kick which opened the way for Waddy to get the decisive score. 

The other big influence on the game was the adjudicating of referee Craig Barclay. 

Mr Barclay is well known on the circuit as a strict disciplinarian who permits no leeway or transgression of the laws. 

In awarding 30 penalties, 16 to one side and 14 to the other, he effectively stifled the play of both teams. 

Technically he is probably correct far more often than he isn’t but one can’t help feeling that a bit more empathy with the players to allow a bit more time for them to release the ball in the tackle or to roll away from it and to distinguish between deliberate and accidental offences would add to both the players’ enjoyment and to the spectacle.  

There was just a hint of an early spring afternoon as Matt Simpson kicked off deep into the Wolves half and the home side were immediately on the attack. 

For 20 minutes Wilmslow were forced to defend and almost inevitably they conceded two penalties for technical offences which Redfern took to open the home side’s account. 

When the Wolves did get going their first real foray ended with a dropped pass but a quick tap penalty soon after by scrum half Andy Walker had Sam Cutts stopped just short of the line.

A real chance was then blatantly halted by a Sale player in an offside position for which he was rightly yellow carded. 

This was soon followed by a yellow card for Wilmslow prop Andy Vassell for a third ruck offence. 

The half ended with Redfern missing a long pot at goal from the Wilmslow 10-yard line.

A good lineout position at the start of the second half was squandered by the Wolves and heralded a period of Sale pressure and their first try.  Scrum-half Walker then received a yellow card from Mr Barclay but there were soon another two for Sale.  The Wolves responded by taking a scrum against the head from which No 8 Alex Taylor put fly-half Ollie McCall into space. 

He didn’t have the pace to go the whole way but his intelligent kick ahead had the Sale defence in all sorts of trouble and, after recycling twice, Rayner cut inside for an excellent try. 

The conversion would be crucial as there was still time for the Wolves to come back once – but not twice. 

McCall’s effort just drifted wide.  Walker then took another quick penalty but found himself isolated, the ball was turned over and quickly found its way to Lillee on the Sale right, who wasn’t going to miss out on such a gilt edged opportunity.

At 20-5, that was really it but the Wolves still pieced together a final play which finished with Black going in under the posts.

There can be no complaints.  The better side deserved their win but once again the Wolves had put in an obdurate performance and shown that they need fear no-one in the run in to the season’s end. 

Coach Rick Jones commented positively on the team’s defensive qualities but was disappointed with   the pressure that Sale were at critical moments able to exert from the set piece. 

The Wolves have no game next weekend but will resume at home on March 2 against Widnes.