Alex Sanderson believes Tom Roebuck showed his England credentials by inspiring Sale to a 43-10 bonus-point win against Newcastle last Friday which condemned the Falcons to a 25th successive Premiership defeat.

Homegrown winger Roebuck, who made his international debut against Japan in the summer, produced two clinical second-half finishes to put himself in the frame for the autumn internationals.

Arron Reed’s early brace, a penalty try and a Will Addison score saw Sanderson’s Sharks establish a 28-3 interval lead to clinch the bonus point before half time.

Roebuck then seized centre stage with his double after the break, while the visitors claimed a consolation try through captain Callum Chick.

Director of rugby Sanderson said: “Tom is really chuffed with that performance and the nature and style with which he scored his tries.

“He’s putting himself up there for England selection and was in camp last week. He’s such a big bloke and a real weapon in the air.

“Performance-wise, we made a lot of substitutions and we still have to be better if we’re going to be ruthless and get to where we want to be. But I don’t think there was any lack of intensity from the lads who came on.”

Tom and Ben Curry were left out of the recent England training camp but showed glimpses of their best form against Newcastle.

Sanderson added: “I thought Tom’s first-half performance was outstanding - he carried, got turnovers and put some thumping tackles in.

“Ben was buzzing around as well before then going out play like he did in the second half with numerous breaks and the rest of it.

“When they’re on form, there is no better pairing to have in the team, particularly in the back five. They’re a menace and it was just good to see them coming off smiling.”

For ex-Sale player and boss Steve Diamond it was a bitterly disappointing return to his hometown club as Newcastle’s long wait for a victory continued.

Diamond said: “It’s difficult to be happy, but to be fair we were beaten all over the shop. We couldn’t keep hold of the ball when we had it and when we turned it over they capitalised very well.

“Sale are a good team and when we come across teams like this we’re going to struggle with the personnel that we’ve got out at the moment.”

Newcastle are missing their first-choice fly-halves and Diamond added: “When we get two or three back from injury, it might be a little bit different, but we can’t control the game at the moment.

“The job in hand is keep the gang that we’ve got here motivated until the end of the season so that we can achieve the goal of staying in the competition. Belief only comes from winning and doing things well and at the minute we’re not doing things well.

“We’ve just got to get to get through this period and get some confidence in the place.”

Sanderson expressed sympathy for Newcastle, saying: “I’d like to see them win a couple of games.”