The Sharks had slipped to second in the standings after the 2012 Amlin Challenge Cup kings battled to a brave victory over Worcester Warriors despite playing the latter stages with 14 men on Thursday night. But Steve Diamond’s troops responded in the perfect manner to ensure qualification for the quarter-finals remains in their hands.

Danny Cipriani was in superb form for the hosts, with the former England fly-half scoring two of Sale’s seven tries and adding six conversions and two penalties for a personal haul of 28 points.

James Gaskell, Dan Braid and Mark Cueto joined Cipriani in touching down before the break as Sale led 32-0 by the close of the first period. Cipriani then added a second after the restart before Rob Miller and Michael Patterson did likewise late on.

Things didn’t initially appear as if they would be quite so straightforward for the double tournament winners, though, as they only led 6-0 through a brace of Cipriani penalties with just 16 minutes of the half left.

But that all changed in the blink of an eye as Sale crossed four times in quick succession. Ex-skipper Gaskell was the first to go over with 24 minutes played, with Cipriani, former All Black Braid and record try scorer Cueto following suit after 31, 35 and 38 minutes respectively.

Sale started the second half in a similar vein to the way in which they finished the first, with Cipriani claiming his second try to make it 41-0 10 minutes after the restart.

Oyonnax finally hit back with a try of their own from right wing Dug Cudjo but it was never going to be anything more than a consolation for a side who looked a shadow of the team that won the reverse fixture 16-10 in France last Thursday.

They added a second through centre Roimata Hansell-Pune to add a greater respectability to the scoreline but Sale had the last word when Miller and Patterson completed the scoring with Sale’s sixth and seventh scores in the final five minutes.