Sale coach Jim Mallinder offered no excuses for his side's performance during their 44-21 defeat by Gloucester at Heywood Road on Saturday.

The Sharks suffered a dramatic second-half collapse after entering the break level at 14-14 with a rampant Gloucester running in three tries.

But the boot of fly-half Ludovic Mercier was the main destroyer of Sale's perfect start to the season, with the Frenchman finishing his day's work with a 24-point haul.

Mallinder had no complaints about the defeat, insisting the Sharks were beaten by the best side.

"We under-performed and now we have to ask ourselves exactly why that happened," he said. "But when we're winning we knew we weren't superstars and now that we've lost we know we're not bad players.

"It is a big disappointment to lose, but so far we've won three out of four.

"We didn't under-estimate them as we knew what they were going to do. They played very sensibly - they picked and drove up the middle and kicked for position.

"We thought we were in with a chance at half-time, but Dimitri Yachvili's interception try came at a bad time."

Gloucester boss Philippe Saint-Andre was pleased with the five-try haul secured by his side - a win that relieves some of the pressure on the underfire Frenchman following the Cherry and Whites' poor start to the season.

"It was a good performance from us and we didn't rely on any one individual - it was a team effort.

"Sale are a very good team, they are very fit and their backs can be dangerous so I'm happy with the win.

"We are a young team and we've got a lot left to learn - this win is very important for the guys. It's hard having a team of so many nationalities, but we've improved a lot."