Sale Sharks ended a three-game winless run in the Premiership as they overcame Harlequins at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Jono Ross then went over to give Sale a half-time lead, but Luke Northmore ran in straight from the restart as the hosts dropped the kick-off.

Quirke quelled Sale nerves when he went over for a late second try to hand Quins their first defeat of the season.

It was the champions’ first loss in seven Premiership games since also losing 45-12 to Sale with a much-changed side at the AJ Bell in June.

Alex Sanderson’s side had come into the game off the back of defeats by Gloucester and Exeter, as well as a draw against London Irish, and had not won since their opening day success over Bath.

Quins made the breakthrough as the first half drew to a close, James Chisholm linking up with Green before racing past Denny Solomona to touch down.

Just past the half-hour mark, Ross had seen yellow for a high tackle on Green, but made an immediate impact on his return as he went over from a driving maul.

The visitors pounced on a Sale error moments after the start of the second period as they failed to claim the ball, leaving Northmore to pick up possession and touch down for an easy try.

Smith and Wilkinson’s kicking meant both sides led in an edgy finale before Quirke’s late intervention turned the game in Sale’s favour.

Sale Sharks director of rugby Alex Sanderson:

“Raffi Quirke is a star in the making, isn’t he? A lot of it is about not overplaying him, because he’s brave. He’ll carry into forwards and at some point he’s just going to get hurt, just by the weight and the number of collisions.

“It’s up to me to look after him. If we look after him, and this goes for England as well, he’s got a very long, bright future ahead of him.

England call for Quirke for Autumn Nations Series?

“I just can’t see why he wouldn’t. I want that for him. I want him to play at the highest level and come back better with better coaching.

“Excellence breeds excellence in terms of who he plays with and trains with, so I want him to go and come back with a boom. Even though we’re short of scrum-halves at the moment, we’ll find a way.

Harlequins coach Tabai Matson:

“We talked about matching their physicality all week and I thought we did a good job. We certainly fronted up and, if it wasn’t for some of those defensive sets, the score could have been worse.

“When you go away from home and the penalty count is 21-9, you’re always going to battle to get a bonus point.

“We lacked composure because they put us under pressure when we exited and then they did a good job at the set-piece, which kept the penalty count ticking over.”

Sale: Hammersley; Solomona, S James, Tuilagi, McGuigan; Wilkinson, Quirke; Rodd, Langdon, Schonert, Wiese, JL du Preez, Ross (capt), T Curry, D du Preez.

Replacements:Taylor, Harrison, Oosthuizen, JP du Preez, Nield, Warr, Curtis, L James.