Sale Sharks 58 Worcester Warriors 25.

IT IS time for Worcester Warriors to wake up from their slumber or else they could find themselves in deep trouble.

If defeats to London Irish and Leicester Tigers were not enough to cause concern this heavy loss at the hands of Sale Sharks should send alarm bells ringing.

And with four games left and bottom club Irish showing no signs of giving up Worcester cannot afford to press the snooze button.

The fight for survival is still alive with the Exiles cutting the gap to 10 points and boss Alan Solomons must find a way to turn the tide.

After the euphoria of beating Exeter Chiefs and the glory of downing Gloucester, Warriors have not looked like winning and were ruthlessly swept aside by Sharks who ran in eight tries.

There is no doubt the loss of influential duo Francois Hougaard and Ryan Mills with ankle injuries has not helped their cause.

And Worcester were also without Chris Pennell and Sam Lewis for the trip to Sale following knocks in training.

But nothing should excuse the way they fronted up at the AJ Bell Stadium.

They missed tackles – 16 coming in the first half alone – and conceded numerous turnovers to hand Sale the initiative.

With scrum-half Faf de Klerk pulling the strings, full-back Mike Haley proving difficult to stop and number eight Josh Strauss adding firepower up front, Sharks deservedly finished resounding winners.

Josh Adams bagged a double to keep himself at the top of the try-scoring charts and Jackson Willison touched down late on as Warriors threatened to claim a losing bonus point.

But far too many players performed well below par to go toe-to-toe with Sale who got off to a stunning start.

After Bryce Heem dropped the ball, Sharks went wide and Haley and Bryn Evans linked up to send Ben Curry clean through inside two minutes. AJ MacGinty converted.

The hosts then notched a second courtesy of a brilliant counter-attacking move. Marland Yarde gathered the ball deep inside Warriors’ half before offloading to Haley who released de Klerk to scamper home.

MacGinty missed the conversion but landed a penalty on 15 minutes as Sale went 15-0 ahead.

Jamie Shillcock closed the gap with two penalties but Worcester were down to 14 men at this point after Darren Barry’s sin-binning for a pull back and Sale soon exploited the extra space.

Haley was once again the provider as he fed Yarde who cut inside Willison before going over on 32 minutes.

Sharks then wrapped up the bonus point by half-time when Andrei Ostrikov shook off a weak tackle from Ben Te’o and teed up Denny Solomona to score.

MacGinty converted both to give his side a 29-6 lead.

Warriors hit back after the break as Adams intercepted a pass from de Klerk and ran in from well inside his own half. Shillcock added the extras.

But the visitors then switched off as Haley collected a kick and cut through Worcester’s defence with ease to go over. MacGinty converted.

Sale were well on top and added two further scores as Strauss powered over following a maul before Byron McGuigan latched onto to MacGinty’s kick up field and dotted down. MacGinty converted.

Despite the 48-13 deficit, Warriors plugged away and Adams notched his second which Sam Olver improved from the tee.

After de Klerk slotted a penalty he then converted James O’Connor’s close-range try but Warriors had the final say as Alafoti Fa’osiliva set up Willison for another consolation score.