Sale director of rugby Kingsley Jones pulled no punches as he accused his side of not respecting Newport Gwent Dragons after their 20-9 defeat at Rodney Parade in their opening LV=Cup clash.

The Sharks were always on the back foot in Gwent after Dragons fly-half Shaun Connor crossed for the game's opening try when he ghosted through some non-existent Sale defence for a converted try.

Three penalties from fly-half Charlie Hodgson saw the visitors trail 10-9 heading into the final quarter but scrum-half Danny Lee's snipe down the fringes yielded a second try for the hosts, with replacement fly-half Adam Greendale adding a conversion and penalty

Sale were poor throughout the game with their backline play lacking any fluidity and accuracy, while their pack struggled to cope with the relentless enthusiasm of their hosts, who were cheered on by a partisan crowd.

Former Wales flanker and captain Jones said: "We did not respect the Dragons. We talked all week about coming down here and giving them the respect they deserve and to give away seven points like that in the first two minutes just speaks volumes.

"If you have never been to Rodney Parade, then this is a lesson for everybody. I know what it's like, it's a tough place to come and they have got a lot of confidence in the side at the moment.

"We kicked the ball a lot and it's a very disappointing day, I just wanted us to show a bit more spirit and show that we wanted it as much as the Dragons."

Jones also admitted the defeat had severely hit his side's chances of progressing to the semi-finals of the revamped Anglo-Welsh tournament.

"We have Leeds next week at home and we fancy ourselves against anyone at home," he said.

"But you would have to say that we are not in a great position in this tournament."

Dragons coach Paul Turner was a much happier man, although he acknowledged his side had made far too many mistakes of their own.

"We made a lot of errors and normally if you make that many errors it can come back to haunt you," he said

"The spirit and defence was excellent and we tried to play some good stuff. It is just a very good win against an almost full-strength Sale side.

"I thought the pack were outstanding, Danny Lee played well behind them and Shaun Connor kicked us into some good positions in the first half.

"There was only one winner there and defensively we were right on the button and with fewer errors we could have had better field position and won by more."