Billy Vunipola is hoping to keep the wins coming after he put in a player-of-the-match performance in Saracens' 25-14 win over Sale Sharks at the Stone X Stadium. 

The victory sees Saracens sit in second in the Premiership Rugby table, six points behind leaders Leicester Tigers who had a bye week, and the Men in Black will head to Sandy Park to take on old rivals Exeter Chiefs on Saturday. 

Vunipola scored Saracens' second try to move the home side into an 18-0 lead but they had to withstand a Sharks fightback following the sending off of Byron McGuigan.

“We hit the ground running in the first half and did really well. We’re disappointed with the second half because we had made such a good start but it’s a win nonetheless and we’re happy with that,” the 29-year-old said. 

“The red card for Sale seemed to be a bit of a release valve for us and we dropped off two or three per cent, and that’s all you need to do when you’re playing such a dangerous team to let them back in it. 

 “We know Al (Sanderson, Sale director of rugby) pretty well, he’s one of the original wolves and we knew it would have to be won up front. The pack they have gets them over the gainline a lot but we fronted up really well in that first half.

“We’re back in the winner's circle and we’ve got next week to look forward to which is another massive game, so bring it on!” 

McGuigan was sent off for an off-the-ball bodyslam on Nick Tompkins in the 46th minute before Sale responded with tries from Ben Curry and Raffi Quirke. 

However, Saracens hung on to claim their sixth win of the season as former Saracens assistant coach Alex Sanderson’s return to the StoneX ended in defeat. 

Hooker Ethan Lewis said: “The boys are really happy to get the win in the end, after they had the red card there was a bit more life to them really and we had to dig in deep defensively to make sure to not let them get back into the game at all. 

“We know how physical Sale are, we knew we had to meet them and smash them back and couldn’t give them gainline because that is how they get momentum. 

"I definitely feel like we had the momentum over them with boys leading in with some massive doubles, making sure we get some rips, some turnovers and we were really organised and really good and the bounce around the rucks was brilliant and we really brought it.”