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Almost everything is going swimmingly for the Bath team at this juncture. Finally, their eagerly awaited stadium renovation appears set to proceed, and on the playing surface, the champions have started with back-to-back wins after the opening pair of fixtures. With Finn Russell scheduled to return in action next week to take back the fly-half baton, it is going to take a seriously good side to dethrone them.

On a wet and windy night in the West Country, nonetheless, they were made to work extremely hard by a tenacious Sale team who refused to yield and refused to go away. It was only with the final three minutes that the Bath center crossed the line to score his side’s bonus point try to preserve his squad’s perfect start to the competition.

This was the Sharks’ fourth consecutive setback on their opponents’ ground and the nature of the loss was mostly typical to previous outings. The home side specializes in applying pressure in the last 20 minutes of games, and here was another example of it. The home team might have simplified matters for themselves had they opted to kick an earlier penalty to widen the gap to eight points, but finally, the young center had the final word.

The observing England head coach Steve Borthwick had an abundance of other players to check out, with the powerful center and Henry Arundell also looking keen to stand out. Sale’s Nathan Jibulu notched a second-half try and is evidently a young player on the rise, while the generalship and kicking accuracy of the calm the veteran fly-half stood out in challenging elements.

Ford’s performance was exceptional for the visitors despite the loss.

It was yet another rain-soaked evening when a cover on the open interim structure would have protected drenched spectators. Their admission can still be priced at a hundred pounds, but a reprieve is imminent. After years of disputes, official approval has been granted for an 18,000-spectator stadium, with Unesco and the relevant official having approved the plan.

That now depends on Bath expecting formal signed approval, which the club hope will materialise within a short period. And once Bath do finally have their own stadium by the river to match their exceptionally player resources, life is going to become no easier for opposing teams.

It’s not as if Sale were in any disposition to be intimidated in a combative if a bit stop-start first half. Bath were unlucky to lose their international forward the experienced player to a knee injury inside eight minutes, and the Sharks’ scrum also made some initial progress. It was Bath, though, who showed resilience and registered the game’s first try, just when Sale were threatening they were breached down the left by the center before the rapid Arundell evaded Tom O’Flaherty to score his debut home league touchdown for his boyhood team.

It was to be the narrative of the half: glimpses of away team quality only for Bath to strike with lethal precision. The game was still less than 30 minutes old when they found the line once more, the flanker slicing clear off the back of a Bath throw and passing to the inside center on his inside to score emphatically.

Luckily Sale still had the outstanding Ford to keep them in touch. The playmaker had already converted a finely judged penalty and a opportunistic drop-goal when a Bath clearance rolled right to him on the midfield. Having taken a brief pause to steady himself, the No 10 executed another precise drop-goal to narrow the gap before Beno Obano, from near the line, scored Bath’s next score with Sale’s captain the skipper absent in the sin bin.

Coming back from a substantial margin away from home would be a challenging endeavor under any circumstances, especially against a Bath team with a extra player and a stacked bench. It was a testament to Sale’s grit, then, when they set up Jibulu from close range just seven minutes after the restart to undermine any home complacency.

Usually that is the cue for Bath to increase the tempo, but this time the visitors were ready. They made their own multiple replacements and, at a five-point game, it required a brilliant tackle from Sam Underhill to halt the powerful carries of Marius Louw. A big collision by Tom Burrow also led to the Bath player to be substituted injured, but where it mattered most, up on the points tally, Bath always find a way these days.