Sale happy with unbeaten home record
After three first half tries had helped Sale into a 17-0 lead at the break, another home win seemed a formality, but Exeter refused to buckle and eventually went down 17-23.
Johnny Leota, Nev Edwards and Mike Haley scored the three Sale tries but the Chiefs responded in the second half through Jack Yeandle and Dave Lewis. However after securing the win, Diamond was quick to praise the opponents on the day and admits Sale will need to become more clinical against the top teams.
"I thought it was an equal contest, even though the scoreline didn't suggest it was. In the second half, they had 80 percent possession and we defended well.
"Exeter are a top-four side on merit, so we were delighted to get the win. But we've got to understand that we should have been 25 points up at half-time, so we've got to work on converting all the opportunities.
"We're a reasonable team, we know we're good at home and it will be a daunting task to go to Worcester next week. We're trying to play to the plan we do in training and we'll see where we are in another three months.
"There's a lot of rugby to play and if we start to think we're better than we are, we'll slip into that relegation fight," Diamond said.
While it meant a second straight defeat for the Chiefs, Rob Baxter was impressed by the spirit shown from his team. And the losing bonus point actually allows them to increase their lead over Leicester Tigers in third.
"We're disappointed to lose but at the same time, you've got to give a lot of credit to Sale, who stood strong in front of a lot of concerted attacks and have worked extremely hard not to break. We worked extremely hard and I can't fault the lads for the energy they put out on the pitch because we've carried the ball for miles.
"Ultimately, we've come up a little bit short by being a little bit too error-strewn in the early part of the game, when we did have concerted pressure. Not scoring anything in that first half has cost us. We had to work extremely hard for our moments and ultimately that's why we've come up a little bit short," Baxter stated.
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