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Virtually all aspects are running smoothly for the Bath team at this juncture. At long last, their long-awaited stadium redevelopment appears on the verge of starting, and on the field, the reigning winners have won two from two after the opening pair of fixtures. With the star fly-half set to reappear in action next week to take back the fly-half baton, it is demands a exceptionally strong side to take their title.

On a rainy and blustery night in Somerset, even so, they were made to work extremely hard by a stubborn Sale Sharks team who stuck in the fight and refused to go away. It was only with three minutes left that Max Ojomoh dove over to score his side’s bonus point try to uphold his squad’s flawless opening to the season.

This was Sale’s fourth successive loss on their opponents’ ground and the way it unfolded was largely familiar to previous performances. The home side specializes in squeezing teams in the final quarter of games, and here was another example of it. The hosts might have eased the pressure for themselves had they decided to go for an earlier penalty to widen the gap to eight points, but finally, the young center had the last say.

The attending England head coach Steve Borthwick had an abundance of other players to assess, with Ollie Lawrence and Henry Arundell also looking keen to impress him. the Sharks’ hooker notched a second-half try and is clearly a promising talent, while the game management and precision kicking of the calm George Ford stood out in testing conditions.

The fly-half was a standout for the Sharks despite the defeat.

It was yet another rain-soaked evening when a shelter on the open makeshift seating would have protected drenched spectators. Their entry passes can still be priced at a hundred pounds, but a reprieve is imminent. After lengthy debates, the green light has been given for an 18,000-spectator stadium, with the heritage body and the government minister having approved the plan.

That merely leaves Bath waiting for final authorization, which the club are confident will be secured within a couple of months. And as and when Bath do eventually possess their own riverside palace to complement their extraordinarily team roster, life is going to become even tougher for future visitors.

Not that Sale were in any mood to be intimidated in a hard-fought if somewhat disjointed first half. Bath were unfortunate to lose their international forward Charlie Ewels to a knock inside the opening stages, and the the visitors’ forwards also made some initial progress. It was Bath, though, who showed resilience and scored the game’s initial points, just when Sale were pushing forward they were exposed down the left by Lawrence before the rapid the winger evaded the defender to score his first home Prem try for his long-supported side.

It was to be the theme of the half: promising moments from Sale only for Bath to strike with clinical execution. The game was still less than 30 minutes old when they found the line once more, Miles Reid bursting away off the back of a home lineout and feeding the inside center on his shoulder to finish exuberantly.

Fortunately Sale still had the superb George Ford to stay within reach. The England fly-half had already converted a well-executed penalty and a opportunistic three-pointer when a Bath drop-out bounced straight to him on the halfway line. Having taken a brief pause to steady himself, the fly-half nailed another accurate kick to close the deficit before the prop forward, from near the line, secured Bath’s third try with Sale’s captain Ernst Van Rhyn absent in the sin bin.

Coming back from 21-9 away from home would be a difficult task under any circumstances, let alone against a Bath team with a extra player and a deep reserves. It was a reflection of Sale’s grit, then, when they created the try from near the line just a few moments after the second-half kickoff to puncture any Bath overconfidence.

Ordinarily that is the signal for Bath to shift up a couple of gears, but this time the visitors were prepared. They made their own series of substitutions and, at a five-point game, it needed a spectacular tackle from the flanker to stop the powerful carries of the center. A big collision by Tom Burrow also forced Ted Hill to be substituted injured, but where it really counted, up on the points tally, Bath consistently deliver these days.