JOSH Charnley says he and his Sale Sharks colleagues are eager to build on the momentum of last Friday’s excellent 36-7 Premiership win against London Irish.

Making his first start of the season, the former Wigan Warriors rugby league star produced a fine all-round display and sealed a memorable night by dotting down for his first try of the campaign to seal Sale's try bonus point.

The Sharks ran in five tries in total with Charnley’s fellow winger and rugby league convert Denny Solomona bagging a brace, with Ross Harrison and man-of-the-match Mark Jennings also crossing the whitewash.

And Charnley believes the confidence he and his colleagues gained from the manner of their display was the perfect tonic as Sale gear up for a hectic autumn programme where they will be competing on three fronts at home, in Europe and in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.

“I’ve had a good pre-season with the lads and I’ve played for the Jets team for the past two Mondays and I think that I’m getting better and that I’m slowly getting there,” Josh said.

“It’s going to take time but it’s been great to see how all the players have helped me.

“The lads help me out every day in training and, as I say, I’m slowly getting there.

"There is good competition for places in the team and we have lots of good wingers who are all fighting for a spot so it’s good to have that real positive vibe around the camp.

“Both Denny and I are pushing to be in the team. We want to be playing week in, week out and if we are getting tries then it obviously helps.

“But ultimately it's about the team. we’re all in it together and I think we showed that against London Irish."

The bonus-point win against the Exiles was just the response Sale wanted after the frustration of losing 13-12 to Newcastle in the Sharks’ opening home game of the campaign.

And Charnley says that the way he and his colleagues went about their business against London Irish has set the tone for the remainder of the campaign.

“Losing by one point to Newcastle wasn’t what we wanted but we bounced back and trained well and prepared well and I think we showed that against Irish,” Josh added.

“We had a positive week in the build-up to the game.

“We created a lot of chances as a team against Newcastle but didn’t capitalise on them. So we looked at that as a team and the standard we set against Irish is one that we want to maintain going forward.”