Diamonds admits Sharks ‘in limbo’ ahead of Saints clash

And Saints will hope to take advantage of the opposition’s hangover when the two sides meet at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday evening.

Diamond concedes the Sharks are in a strange situation after securing their Premiership future last weekend.

They thrashed Gloucester 32-9 last Friday and then watched on as Saints consigned London Welsh to relegation at the Kassam Stadium on Sunday.

Sale now head to Northampton with a weight having been lifted from their shoulders, and Jim Mallinder’s men will hope that can work in their favour.

“I don’t know how to explain it but in a weird way I woke up over the weekend with an air of disappointment because the pressure had gone,” said Diamond of Sale’s successful survival bid.

“We knew what we had to do and we had prepared ourselves for it to go the wire so you now end up in limbo.

“You had to have a strong mentality when you embark on what we did at Christmas to know that it’s going to take a big effort to do it and we’ve actually secured our safety two weeks quicker than I thought... that was the only help we got from the five points Welsh were deducted.

“So the sense of achievement is high but as I say the disappointment is there that the pressure has gone.”