Thomas – The Tank Engine?

He was probably wondering how his team could've played so well and yet lost. Sadly he didn't have his Springbok-adopted sidekick with him to offer any words of comfort - Eddie Jones was far too busy preparing himself for smugness in Paris and looking forward to getting his hands on a winner's medal at long last.

Mind you, I'm sure Philippe Saint Andre would've felt the same had the boot been on the other foot.

Both teams played with passion, belief and endeavour, making the contest scintillating and exciting to watch.

It's a shame there had to be a loser, because both teams produced on the night. Well, actually, no it's not a shame if you're a Sharks fan, it's exactly what the doctor ordered - thrilling, edge of your seat rugby and a bonus point to boot.

Can it get better than that? Well, yes it can but maybe I'm just nit-picking.

Sale started off brightly enough with both scrum and lineout functioning well - after last week that was a blessing in itself. Faure, Briggs and Evans caused real problems for Yates, Cairns and Johnson, while Maggie, Jones and Bonner Evans made a real nuisance of themselves around the park.

At long last our forwards started to clear out the rucks and present clean, quick ball for Wiggy. Charlie's kicking out of hand was thankfully back to its best.

You could sense that this was a game that the team was really up for. Two early Hodgson penalties steadied the nerves and things were looking very promising.

The only problem I could see was that our midfield was playing too flat. Sorrell and Powell sat deeper behind Jackson and were able to attack the floated ball at pace.

Our backs looked lively and ready to run the ball down the channels and were ferocious in the tackle, but as soon as Sarries started to play with width our system began to stutter.

Saracens had done their homework and at every opportunity Matadigo, Seymour and Skirving attacked our 10 channel causing Charlie real problems. Whenever that happens we look like a team who're likely to concede points, if not by leaking tries then by senselessly conceding penalties.

Thankfully, we kept our discipline on the night and no-one saw the red mist, but unfortunately our drift defence just couldn't cope with some adventurous and enterprising Sarries' moves.

Jackson's influence started to tell and he put the Sharks on the back foot.

Before you could blink an eye, any early advantage had been wiped out by tries from former Sale bulldog, Kevin Yates after a cheeky line-out steal and Sakiusa Matadigo from a lovely defence splitting pass from his stand off.

If I've a concern about our game-plan this season it has to be the fact that our defence looks vulnerable when put under pressure. We saw it at Newcastle and also last week at Castle Grim.

I know it might be a little bit priggish to complain after we managed to get a bonus point win, but it's something that needs to be addressed if we want to start playing on the biggest European stage next year.

As good as the atmosphere was you could almost sense that unspoken fear among the crowd, a sort of a collective gulp as we all thought - oh God, here we go again'. We looked destined to go in at half time 17-6 down.

Given the way Saracens have been despatching teams this season perhaps it wouldn't have been that surprising, but it seemed illogical given the way we'd started the game. What was needed was a spark, a moment of inspiration that would lift the team.

It arrived in the form of a bone-crunching tackle from new boy Rory Lamont as he shunted Ed Thrower into touch denying Saracens what looked like a nailed on try.

From that moment, we played like a team inspired. Jones made a telling break down the centre shrugging off two defenders before offloading to Ripol who backed himself to cross the line in the corner. Penney denied him the chance but you could see that determination to strike back burning fiercely.

Shortly before the break Lamont surged down the flank, brushing aside Powell and Thrower in a congested Saracens 22 before offloading to Magnus Lund who found space and popped a pass to Wiggy who crossed smartly in the corner. Charlie hit the conversion from the narrowest of angles and when the whistle blew for the break, suddenly things seemed brighter.

The mood lifted and even the dancing chicken at half time couldn't deflate the upbeat, expectant mood.

The second half took me back. How long was it since I'd seen Sale throw the ball around with such purpose and intent?

Well, it was that long ago that I can't actually remember it.

What made the difference? Our centres played deeper for the next 40 minutes. Wiggy started to give better, quicker service to Charlie and he in turn was able to set up Thomas at second receiver who took the ball at pace and bulldozed his way deep into the Saracens 22.

His nickname might be Bomber, but maybe he should change it to Tank' given the force of his tackling. Maybe he's armour-plated after all.

We definitely missed his influence at Gloucester last week. Not only can he defend with the best and chase down every high ball, but he can step off both feet and kick too. Granted his later penalty was a little wayward, but nobody's perfect.

It was true edge of your seat rugby for the next thirty minutes - gripping, breathless stuff that was absolutely thrilling to watch as the lead changed hands regularly.

Lamont capped a fabulous debut, latching on to a floated Hodgson pass and sliding in the corner.

Charlie then converted from the touchline only to have the advantage snatched back as Jackson levelled the scores with a penalty.

Keil picked up a loose ball on halfway and fed the ball quickly to Hodgson who dummied De Kock and laid the ball on to Thomas. Somehow the ball finished up with Ripol on the wing and he managed to evade a series of challenges and a collapsed pile of bodies, squirming back inside into space.

He may have been the smallest man on the field but his performance was towering. He passed the ball back inside to Thomas who slid in under the posts. Jackson then tried to poop the party atmosphere by nailing a drop goal and then sniping an easy, badly defended try under our posts.

With 10 minutes to go it looked like we'd blown our chance, but the crowd could sense that it wasn't over. Both sides were determined to go for broke and run the ball at every available opportunity.

Sale have obviously adapted their style of play since Jos Baxendell came back to coach. Instead of the lacklustre pick and go show of last week, we tried to keep the ball alive and use whatever space was available.

It was fantastic to watch, though more than a little nerve-racking.

The ball was moved across both flanks and seemed to involve virtually every player in a blue shirt, before Mr Utility', Ben Foden squirmed his way under a despairing Saracens' defence to plant the ball in the corner and secure our first try-bonus point of the season.

He may not like the description of utility back', nor the comparisons to Austin Healy, but he's been a revelation at full back this season and seems to get better with each match.

Maybe that's where he's destined to play. It's not for me to say but he's been far more involved when he's played there and continues to rack up the tries.

The last four minutes lasted approximately 20, or so it seemed.

You always sensed that there had to be one last throw of the dice. Saracens were not about to lie down and die and sure enough, back they came forcing a penalty for hands in at a ruck just outside our 22.

Jackson had to kick for the corner as they were four points adrift at that point.

He swears he didn't kick the ball dead. From where I was sat it looked that way - I was every bit as sure his kick went dead as I was that Cueto's foot didn't hit the line in the World Cup Final.

It appears I was only wrong once.

Perhaps it was just our time for a little luck - it did after all desert us last season, so maybe we were due for some.

By the time the players had packed down for the final five-metre scrum I'd given up on the edge of your seat position. It was getting uncomfortable and was highly likely to end in bodily injury, so I stood instead. Fortunately everyone else was of the same mind or I could've been in trouble.

A big scrum, possession secured and finally, finally the ball is cleared to touch. The referee, Mr Small, God bless his cotton socks, blows the whistle for time which is just as well as by this stage my pulse was racing quicker than Brian Habana's feet.

To come away with five points is good. To come away with five points against a team like Saracens is an achievement. They didn't deserve to lose, but I'm more than happy with the result. Here's to many more.

So, what happens now and where do we go from here?

The Guinness Premiership takes a back seat for a while, to be replaced by the EDF Cup and the European Challenge Cup.

The EDF Cup I can take or leave as I see it as a distraction, but the European matches could be interesting and raise some very difficult selection issues.

Should Thomas stand aside and be replaced by McAlister? Should Briggs' fine form be overlooked with Bruno shoed into the front row? Will Foden be played at tight head in the next game?

These are questions only a director of rugby can answer.

However, perhaps that might be over-looking what is possibly the most important question we should all be asking. Will we have a director of rugby when the Premiership resumes?