WASPS director of rugby Tony Hanks says Sunday’s Guinness Premiership victory over Sale was set up by a commanding display from their pack.

After a difficult January, the Wasps forwards were disciplined and dominant at Newcastle and followed that up with another steadfast performance against Sale.

Hanks said: “The forwards really fronted up. We said after Leicester we had a few things to work on. The scrum was one of them and Sunday’s win was definitely built on a fantastic scrummaging display.”

Hanks also singled out Danny Cipriani after a welcome return to kicking form.

He said: “Another thing to come out of January was our goalkicking, but Danny was faultless.

“He had a couple of big kicks in there too but he was hitting the ball so cleanly.

“We expect our goalkickers to be in the high 70 per cents and Danny didn’t miss a kick all afternoon to keep the scoreboard ticking over nicely.”

Wasps won by less than a score in the end, but Hanks believes it should have been more.

He said: “We thoroughly deserved to win the game, there is no question about that. I think we had more control than the scoreboard suggested. If we’d gone over when they went a man down and we had a five metre scrum then I think we’d have got a comfortable win.

“But we don’t do comfortable wins and I actually think the momentum went against us then because if you are defending on your own goalline and come away without conceding any points it gives you a big lift, and that’s what happened to them.”

Wasps’ next game is Saracens on Sunday.

Hanks said: “We’ve got to build on this. We’ve spoken about this four-week block and Sunday was all about making sure we got off to a good start.

“We were determined to get back to winning ways in the Premiership but we’ve got to back this up against Saracens.

“It’s going to be tough, they’re near the top of the table for a reason and we’ve got to keep improving our game.

“We’ve got to do the little things right and take our points when they’re available.”