Sale Sharks coach Jim Mallinder put his side's 29-16 victory over Leicester down to the "heart of the players" and reserved special praise for the contribution of man of the match Chris Jones.

"I think we worked hard in our organisation and it was a performance from the heart," said Mallinder.

"Jones has got that ability when he is in open country. It was quite impressive.

"People who don't really know him say that if he puts three or four stone on he will suddenly become a real powerhouse second row. But he has got something that other second rows haven't got.

"Round the field he is an athlete and he's got a massive engine."

Second-half tries from Nick Walsh and lock Jones, his a galloping 50-metre solo effort, took the Sharks to a hard-earned victory on the back of animpressive defence and a faultless kicking display from Charlie Hodgson.

The Sharks were soundly beaten last week at Gloucester but the opportunity to face Leicester in front of a sell-out crowd helped inspire the players to a dramatic improvement.

"We got the defeat out of our system on Monday," he said.

"We had a down to earth session and we looked at where we went wrong and the lads were very critical of themselves. really. You've got to look forward. It was a fantastic game to get ourselves up for and thankfully we managed it.

"It was a very good atmosphere. It's great to see this ground full and turning people away."

Leicester director of rugby Dean Richards lost 10 members of his squad to the England training camp at the beginning of the week, but insisted it was not an excuse for losing their second game of the season.

England forwards Neil Back, Dorien West and Graham Rowntree were all introduced late from the bench, but Richards felt he had no option but to name them amongst the replacements.

"(The England training session) did have a bearing but I don't think that it's an excuse for losing," he said.