Sale ended 2008 in imperious fashion, demolishing champions Wasps 31-3 at Edgeley Park on Boxing Day, to leave the visitors' head coach Shaun Edwards acclaiming Saint-Andre's all-stars as the form team in England right now.
But though the Sharks are sitting pretty in fourth place in the Guinness Premiership, just four points off top spot, and are also still very much in the mix for a place in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals, their French general still has a couple of regrets over the way the first half of an incident-filled campaign has panned out.
"For me, we have ended the year short of two wins," said the Sharks director of rugby, who will leave the club at the end of the season.
"When we played Munster at home in the Heineken Cup in October we made too many mistakes and we ended up giving the game away.
"And then in our Guinness Premiership game away at Bath just before Christmas we were robbed by a last-minute try.
"So I think we are short of two wins and if we had won those games we would now be top of our group in the Heineken Cup and top of the table in the Premiership.
"But, overall, I am very pleased with the attitude of the players, the way that we have improved over the past month or so and the way that we have coped despite having a lot of injuries.
Competition
"There have also been a lot of positives for us. Youngsters like Neil Briggs, Marc Jones and Carl Fearns have developed so much and there has been really good competition at scrum-half between Richard Wigglesworth and Dwayne Peel.
"Luke Abraham has done very well in his first year here, I think Mark Cueto is back to his very best and Jason White was also right back on top form until dislocating his finger last week.
"And everyone has been able to see the great leadership of Juan Lobbe and, hopefully, they will think it was not a bad decision to appoint him captain in the summer.
"So I am delighted with the atmosphere in the camp but we know that the next four weeks will be vital and will go a long way to defining our season.
Important
"We face very important games against Worcester away this Saturday and then London Irish at home in the league before two huge games against Munster and Clermont Auvergne which will determine if we make it through to the Heineken Cup quarter-finals."
The way Sale have fronted up in their last two league outings has prompted comparisons with the way they built up a head of steam on the way to being crowned English champions in 2006.
But if the Sharks are to replicate their finest achievement, the key as far as their boss is concerned, is consistency.
"We have finished 2008 very well but now we need to take that form into the New Year," Saint-Andre warned.
"It's all about finding the right balance and confidence and when you have those two elements then you can go a long way.
"Straight after we lost at Bath, I said to the guys: `Look if we can play with this confidence, intensity and urgency we can beat anyone.'
"The challenge now is for us is to reproduce that form consistently over the next five, six or seven weeks.
"That was the most pleasing thing about how we responded to the Bath defeat as not a lot of English teams will beat the champions, score four tries and concede just three points.
"We are still very much in the hunt in the league and I maintain that, if we can finish in the top four and make the end-of-season play-offs, then over two games we are capable of beating any side in Europe, let alone England."
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