MARTIN JOHNSON is due to announce his squad for the autumn internationals tomorrow, and the England manager will doubtless be making a few last-minute phone calls tonight to see who else has failed to make it through the weekend. “Jonno here. How’s things?” “Well, I’ve got a sprained ankle, torn knee ligaments and a cauliflower ear, but otherwise not too bad.” “Good enough for me, son. You’re in.”

It is one of the great ironies, at a time when England have barely got a fit first-choice player, that Jonny Wilkinson is blooming with health. Mind you, where Wilkinson’s concerned he could end up in A&E taking the top off a boiled egg, and quite apart from wanting to do well for their respective clubs at Franklin’s Gardens yesterday, Shane Geraghty and Charlie Hodgson were both pushing their credentials for the England No 10 shirt should something happen (and it usually does) to Wilkinson.

However, the bad news for Johnson is that on yesterday’s evidence, he wouldn’t want to have to replace Wilkinson with either of them. Hodgson had a quiet game, missing a couple of penalty kicks as well, and Geraghty — possibly weighed down by some recent rave reviews — struggled in both his decision-making and execution, and was replaced midway through the second half.

If there was a back out there who enhanced his England prospects, it was Saints full-back Ben Foden, and of the forwards, Sale flanker James Gaskell and Northampton lock Courtney Lawes both enhanced their growing reputations.

Overall, though, it was a mediocre match, Saints struggling to put away opponents who have won only one of their last 13 away matches.

After 35 minutes of stupefying mediocrity, the match turned on a sin-binning for Sale centre Andy Tuilagi, who threw a punch at a maul, after which their 14 men conceded two tries before the break, first from Foden and then from left winger Bruce Reihana.

Sale might have got back into it when Saints lost control of their own put-in at a wheeled scrum early in the second half and Gaskell pounced on the loose ball to nip in from 10 yards out. It was even more promising for them when Nick Easter’s sin-binning gave them a man advantage, but Brent Cockbain ridiculously got yellow-carded himself straight afterwards, and Sale eventually had to settle for a bonus point from Hodgson’s last-minute penalty.

Star man: Courtney Lawes (Northampton)
Scorers: Northampton: Tries: Foden 38, Reihana 40 Con: Geraghty Pens: Geraghty (2), Myler
Sale: Tries: Gaskell 46 Con: Hodgson Pens: Hodgson (3)
Referee: P Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Attendance: 10,010

Northampton: B Foden; C Ashton, C Mayor (J Ansbro 54min), J Downey, B Reihana; S Geraghty (S Myler 59min), L Dickson (A Dickens 72min); R Dreyer, D Hartley (capt), S Tonga’uiha, I Fernandez Lobbe (C Day 59min), C Lawes, P Dowson, N Best (M Easter 52min), R Wilson
Sale: N Macleod; M Cueto, M Tait (C Bell 76min), A Tuilagi, B Cohen; C Hodgson, R Wigglesworth (D Peel 72min); G Kerr (J Forster 57min), M Jones, E Roberts, D Schofield (capt) (R O’Donnell 76min), S Cox, J Gaskell (B Cockbain 52min), D Seymour, S Koyamibole (D Tait 54mins)