Redpath: Challenge to his Sharks players

Sarries bossed the scrum, one of the trademarks that saw them become 2011 Premiership champions, and fly-half Charlie Hodgson took advantage with six penalties for 18 points versus his old club.

Will Addison's try early in the second half put Sale ahead, but newly-signed Chris Ashton's third score in two games for Saracens proved decisive as the Sharks had to settle for a losing bonus point.

Having see his side thrashed 43-6 at Exeter a week ago on the Premiership's opening weekend, Redpath was at least satisfied with a much improved display.

"I thought we were a lot better than last week, which was the key thing," he said.

"We lacked a little bit in confidence in certain parts because of last week's drubbing. We needed to get a better performance and I thought we got that for the majority of the game.

"We didn't get the rub of the green on certain occasions. I think it was 9-0 on penalties at scrum time and we have to look at that and see why."

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall had no doubt his team merited their control in the pack and suggested Sale could have been punished more than they were.

"I thought for the first 25, 30 minutes of the match we were massively in control, built a 12-3 lead. It could have been more," he said.

"They gave away countless penalties in their own 22, which Charlie kicked. But they were try-scoring opportunities. It was frustrating for us that they kept 15 men on the pitch during that period of time."

Addison's breakaway try gave a 7,451-crowd hope of victory, but McCall was satisfied with Sarries' response.

"One of the strengths of our group is that ability to deal with the odd setback here and there, especially away from home, and I thought we showed a lot of composure, a lot of control and a lot of ability to come back and see out the game," he added.

High-profile Sale summer arrival Danny Cipriani played the majority of the game for the second week running.

Having come off the bench at Exeter, he started today, pulled the strings from fly-half and kept the Sharks in touch with three penalties plus a conversion.

"I thought Danny did pretty well. He kicked pretty well," Redpath said.

"You can see that he obviously needs some more time with the players so people can read him.

"He is a threat and I thought today he was good. It was good to get him out there and he is a talented rugby player and he certainly kicked pretty smartly on certain occasions for us.

"The more he plays, the better he'll get and it was a good start for us today."

While Hodgson stole the headlines, Cipriani denied his opposite number a charged-down try with a recovery tackle after not getting a clearance kick away in time.

Hodgson, seven years Cipriani's senior, joked: "Unfortunately I didn't have the wheels to get in there. He's slightly quicker than me, Cipriani."