SALE Sharks have finished top of the Guinness Premiership for the first time in 141 years.

But any thoughts of a celebration have been firmly banished from the Edgeley Park club.

No-one can catch the all-conquering Sharks, yet finishing top of the pile merely gives the club home advantage in the semi-final play-offs a week on Sunday.

And they must win that to book their ticket to Twickenham and the Grand Final on Saturday, May 27.

Sharks have been out in front since September and clinched the top spot with a bonus point win over Bath last Friday.

Chief executive Niels de Vos said: "Everyone connected with Sale Sharks is buzzing at the moment.

Outstanding

"The play-offs are a fantastic climax to the Guinness Premiership season, and we cannot ask for more than securing a home tie in the semi-final. Our record at Edgeley Park is outstanding and we fear no-one.

"But the reality is that we have won nothing yet. Of course, we are proud to have finished the season top of the Premiership, but we all know that the champions are the team that wins the final at Twickenham.

"That has been our sole focus all season, and it remains so now. Since the Championship semi-finals were introduced three seasons ago, no team finishing top at the end of the regular season has gone on to win the Championship trophy. We owe it to ourselves and to our fans to reverse that trend."

This week's edition of Talking Sharks, the dedicated rugby union show from M.E.N. Sport's sister TV station Channel M, takes a look at the Sharks' historic victory over Bath and McAfee's seven-figure sponsorship deal with the club. It also looks ahead to Sale's trip to Northampton this weekend.

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