He drew many positives from a first-half display which earned the English club a 21-3 interval lead, but they then conceded 10 points without reply after the break.

Sanderson said: “We came away with a win down in South Wales on a wet day in a big competition, so I'm very, very happy with the outcome.

“There are obviously things that could have gone better with our performance, such as the 19-5 penalty count. It was tough playing with 14 men for 20 minutes due to two yellow cards.”

Trying to pin down the difference in the two halves, Sanderson felt his team had not been able to maintain their momentum.

He said: “I think we did the fundamentals very well in that first 25 minutes, where we played the game. We were clinical in our positioning in the Ospreys 22, which is something we have been working on.

“Then in the rest of the first half we were very physical defensively, really back to our best.

“We saw all of it in that first half, but then just couldn’t seem to get a foothold in the second. We conceded penalty after penalty that led to another yellow and that penalty count goes against the trend of winning rugby games.”

“If we had continued to play in the right areas and had better discipline, we should have got those four tries.”

Sale host ASM Clermont Auvergne at the AJ Bell Stadium in Round 2 on Saturday.

Sale Sharks director of rugby Alex Sanderson admitted to mixed feelings after his side won 21-13 at Ospreys in their Heineken Champions Cup opener.