Warriors Director of Rugby Dean Ryan believes Sale’s second try proved pivotal as the hosts secured a 26-10 victory at the AJ Bell Stadium.
Warriors dominated parts of the first-half but found themselves 7-3 down before an explosive second-half Sale display.
He said: “I was disappointed with the second try after the break. We were competitive until the game stepped away from us at that pivotal moment.”
Despite the loss, Ryan said he was pleased with the effort and resilience displayed by his side.
He continued: “We were resilient for the first 50 minutes and at half-time we talked about being confident and pushing on.
“Defensively we were difficult to break down and we were all the things that we have shown in recent weeks.
“The effort was fantastic and if we continue to be hard to breakdown, we will compete.”
Dean Hammond, James Stephenson and Mike Williams all started against Sale and the Director of Rugby believes the mix of youngsters and senior players can make an impact as the season goes on.
He concluded: “We’re looking for senior players to respond and give the youngsters the framework to come in.
“We had several players under the age of 23 starting tonight and we’ve got guys like Max Stelling and Andy Symons who will get opportunities. If we put them all in then it suddenly becomes detrimental towards their development but the mix is healthy.
“We’ve got to make that group a central asset to what we’re trying to do and I’m not going to burn them just because we’re looking for a different answer from week to week.”