"It didn't happen!" - Diamond denies Sale partied ahead of Saints match

There have been several suggestions that the Sharks players went out after the victory at the AJ Bell Stadium, with reports claiming that was why they found themselves with what is believed to be a massive 19 positive Covid-19 test results after their win at Saints last Tuesday.

Those results led to Sale's game against Worcester Warriors, which was due to be played today (Sunday), being postponed until Wednesday.

But it had even greater consequences for Saints, who were forced to forfeit their season finale at Gloucester due to a completely decimated front row, with several players having to self-isolate after coming into close contact with Sale.

Premiership Rugby refused to alter regulations to allow Saints to register loan players to ensure their game at Kingsholm could go ahead, meaning the campaign finished in farcical circumstances for the black, green and gold, who dropped down to eighth in the league standings, below Gloucester.

Sale boss Diamond was questioned on BT Sport about why his club had so many positive Covid cases and was asked whether they had gone out after their Premiership Rugby Cup final win.

But Diamond said: "It's common sense and we're living in unchartered waters with this illness so we're not expecting people to go out and party - that doesn't happen.

"People have to be respectful and responsible when they're in the training environment.

"One - there's nowhere to go (out), two - they're very responsbile and they wouldn't do that."

BT Sport pundit Ugo Monye then said to Diamond: "I can't ignore what's on my (Twitter) timeline and there's a lot of suggestions the players were partying, socialising, mixing in inner-city Manchester where the R rate is pretty high. Can you refute some of those claims and accusations that people are putting out there?"

Diamond replied strongly: "It hasn't happened!"