AN injection of international class from South African scrum-half Francois Hougaard lifted Worcester Warriors to a precious 31-23 victory against Sale Sharks.

The 27-year-old marked his first Warriors appearance with a sniping try and linked up well with fly-half Tom Heathcote, who finished with a 16-point haul.

The pace and delivery of Hougaard’s passing gave relegation-threatened Warriors valuable momentum and he rarely kicked away possession in a debut to remember.

Hougaard took some of the pressure off the shoulders of Heathcote, who was back to his best, typified by a mesmerising break in the first period.

Clearly, it’ early days for Hougaard in a Warriors shirt but, on this evidence, the capture of the Springbok international could prove a masterstroke by Warriors chief Dean Ryan.

Sale’s afternoon was compounded in the final play when their skipper Josh Beaumont, the England player, appeared to dislocate a shoulder.

Warriors finally ended their 13-match losing run after three long months and should have won by a greater margin.

But, had it not been for Hougaard being penalised for using his hands in a scrum, Warriors would have scored their best try of the season.

Wynand Olivier finished off a breathtaking passing move involving Ryan Mills, Heathcote, Bryce Heem and Chris Pennell only for the first-half effort to be ruled out by referee Greg Garner.

Flankers Dewald Potgieter and Carl Kirwan impressed for Worcester and Kirwan capped a hard-working display with his first Premiership try for Warriors.

Heathcote landed four penalties and two conversions to outshine former England international Danny Cipriani, who had a poor afternoon with the boot and failed to convert any of Sale’s tries.

The only blemish for Heathcote was an over-hit restart at the beginning of the second half which sailed into touch and, ultimately, led to a Sale try.

In truth, Warriors had missed a golden opportunity to end their dismal run against Bath last weekend and, at times, there were parallels between the two matches.

Like against Bath, Warriors raced out of the blocks and into a healthy half-time advantage – this time opening up a 21-8 interval lead against Sale who ended the half with Mike Haley in the sin-bin.

Sale scored at the beginning of the second half with a man down and, for a time, threatened to get back into the match.

Importantly, Warriors hit back with a try from Pennell and, by the time Haley burst through for his second touchdown with a minute remaining, the visitors’ six-match winning streak was over.

An early penalty from Heathcote had fired Warriors into a 3-0 lead and then Kirwan finished off an overlap to touch down after Heem had been held up over the line.

Cipriani’s penalty got Sale on the board and Olivier’s effort was chalked off before Warriors notched their second try through Hougaard after a spell of pressure.

Heathcote converted and then landed a penalty to stretch Worcester’s lead to 18-3.

Sale hit back with a thunderous driving maul, allowing David Seymour to touch down, but Haley was dispatched to the sin-bin for slowing down Warriors' ball at the breakdown.

Heathcote’s penalty gave Worcester a 13-point cushion at the interval but Tommy Taylor’s driven try gave Sale a flying start to the second half.

Any fears of a Warriors wobble were soon dispelled when Jaba Bregvadze took advantage of a sloppy Sale restart.

Bregvadze’s initial burst put Warriors on the front foot and Pennell finished off the move with Heathcote landing the extras.

Heathcote’s fourth penalty stretched Worcester’s lead to 31-13 after 52 minutes but Sharks replied, Haley taking advantage of an overlap to touch down in the corner.

With Warriors coming under increasing pressure, Warriors prop Nick Schonert was dispatched to the sin-bin. But the hosts defended admirably.

Haley broke through to score in the dying seconds but Cipriani missed his fourth conversion attempt and Warriors deservedly ran down the clock for a vital win in their fight to avoid the drop.