Tindall warmed up for the start of the Six Nations with an fine display

Gloucester 44 (27)
Tries: Lamb, Balshaw, Azam, Bortolami, Morgan
Cons: Lamb 2, Mercier 3
Pens: Lamb, Mercier
Drop: Lamb

Sale 24 (10)
Tries: Foden, Schofield, Mayor
Cons: Rhys Jones 3
Pens: Rhys Jones

Gloucester moved to third in the Premiership table after thumping injury-ravaged Sale at Kingsholm.

The home side went ahead after just two minutes through a converted try from Ryan Lamb, who added a drop goal and a penalty before being stretchered off.

Olivier Azam and Marco Bortolami added further scores either side of the break to put Gloucester 34-10 in front.

Sale did hit back with tries from Dean Schofield and Chris Mayor but Olly Morgan's late score sealed the win.

And with England's opening Six Nations game just seven days away, Gloucester duo Iain Balshaw and Mike Tindall did their claims for selection at Twickenham no harm at all with impressive displays.

Nice approach work from the duo set up Lamb's score early on before Balshaw ran in unchallenged from 30m to cross in the corner.

Despite being 17-3 down, Sale re-grouped and scrum-half Ben Foden darted in after some effective set-piece work.

Lamb added another penalty but was carried off after going down in open play and was later taken to hospital for an X-ray on his right ankle.

And the game was effectively sealed when Azam and skipper Bortolami went over.

Sale's late rally did fluster the home side until Morgan settled Kingsholm nerves with a score six minutes from time.

Sale, who have more than a dozen players in the treatment room, have now lost six of their last eight league games and a place in the end-of-season play-offs lies in tatters.

"Mike has been outstanding for us, and he brings so much more than the physical side to his game that everyone writes about.

"He is freeing the game up for us, and he has been in good form for a number of weeks now.

"Without him, we are a completely different back-line, and there is no doubt we missed him at the start of the season when he was injured."

"We now have a two-week break, and for everyone, coaches and players, it could not have come at a better time.

"I always try to be positive, but with so many players injured at the moment it is difficult to rotate things within the squad."

Gloucester: Balshaw; Bailey, Adams, Tindall, Simpson-Daniel; Lamb, Lawson; Califano, Azam, Nieto, Bortolami, Brown, Buxton, Hazell, Balding.
Replacements: Morgan for Adams (69), Mercier for Lamb (36), Richards for Lawson (64), Wood for Califano (51), M Davies for Azam (51), James for Bortolami (75), Boer for Balding (75).

Sale: R Jones; Bell, Mayor, Taylor, Ripol; Wigglesworth, Foden; Roberts, Titterrell, Stewart, Schofield, Day, C Jones, J Fernandez Lobbe, Chabal.
Replacements: Vilk for Ripol (43), Bruno for Titterrell (45), Turner for Stewart (43), Tait for C Jones (43), Hills for Chabal (76).
Not Used: Evans, Riley.

Att: 12,058

Referee: Tony Spreadbury (Bristol)