Saracens' Mouritz Botha and Sale's James Gaskell compete for a lineout © Getty Images

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Matches: Saracens 23 - 10 Sale Sharks

Tournaments/Tours: Aviva Premiership

Teams: England | Sale Sharks | Saracens

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall believes his reigning Aviva Premiership champions have the quality and experience to launch a serious assault on the Heineken Cup crown.

Sarries made sure they stayed on the heels of current league leaders Harlequins with a clinical victory over a Sale side punished for missing their kicks at goal and failing to function in the lineout.

"We learned lessons very quickly during last season's Heineken Cup, particularly from the games against Leinster and, hopefully we haven't got the same failings we had back then," McCall said. "I believe we are capable of having a good impact on the Heineken Cup and that we have the strength and quality within the squad to take advantage of last season's experiences. We open our Heineken programme at home to Benetton Treviso next Sunday and there is always a sense of anticipation when this competition comes around."

McCall feels that the return to top-form of former England captain Steve Borthwick is a key factor in their pursuit of a second consecutive league title. "I believe Steve's form is the best he has enjoyed in the past two and a half years. His impact on and off the field, his leadership and his form as a lock forward are all magnificent. Against Sale he was a big factor in our success against their lineout and in Europe we could not be led by a better skipper.

"We were clinical for an hour but less so in the final 20 minutes. I know people tend to refer to guys coming off the bench as a factor, but you must trust your players in terms of bringing people on and off. You cannot play guys for the full 80 minutes every game. Sale played well, forced us to produce very strong defence. People underestimate Sale, but they shouldn't because they are a fine team. They came and attacked us, but we have a very good record at Vicarage Road, one we are proud of. Teams find it difficult to beat us at home."

Sale's executive director of sport Steve Diamond saluted the smarts of his former team Saracens and criticised his own team's failings. "I feel a sense of frustration because we allowed small errors to become big mistakes," Diamond said. "Credit to Saracens who are street-wise in the way Leicester have been for years. They can slow your ball at the breakdown and we need to learn from this and become more street-wise ourselves.

"We need to focus on some basics, however. We got messed around at the breakdown and our lineout needs attention. Saracens have been up there for a couple of years now, a very well drilled and well structured side. But we scored two tries in the final quarter when we undid that structure."

Sale took the game to Saracens, but Nick Macleod missed both his penalty attempts while Owen Farrell was ruthless, kicking 13 points and no misses. Tries by David Strettle and Matt Stevens completed the Saracens scoring while late tries by Rob Miller and Mark Easter earned Sale nothing more than mild consolation.