Ashton, who missed the first seven weeks of the season, got off the mark in great style when he romped in from half-way and Francois de Klerk’s conversion made it 13-13 at the break.

36' Sale defending inside their half. Wilkinson rips the ball in the tackle and sends play wide through the backs. Chris Ashton has it all to do from halfway but wins the foot race down the wing to score on his debut! #SALvCON [11-13]

— Sale Sharks🦈 (@SaleSharksRugby) October 20, 2018

The home side dominated the second period though as lock forward Josh Beaumont went over and three minutes later Ashton added his second.

Then with 15 minutes remaining, Ashton completed a memorable week, following his England squad call-up, as he notched his hat-trick after Sale’s Paul Boyle was given a yellow card for tackling a player without the ball.

Connacht had started the game well when hooker Shane Delahunt crossed on the half-hour after great work from the pack and fly-half Conor Fitzgerald converted to add to two early penalties on his debut.

Caolin Blade says it's "an absolute honour" to captain his province today but the result is disappointing pic.twitter.com/bShHGei5v1

— Connacht Rugby (@connachtrugby) October 20, 2018

It completed a shaky start for Sale who had de Klerk sin-binned in the opening minutes for a deliberate knock-on but Ashton then turned the game on its head.

Sale’s next assignment is at Bordeaux Begles in round three on December 8 while Connacht bid to bounce back the same day at home to Perpignan.