London (AFP) - Manu Tuilagi saw red on his return to club action as Sale were left stunned by Northampton, who fought back to win 38-34 in the English Premiership on Saturday.
Powerhouse centre Tuilagi, dropped by England for their opening two matches this Six Nations, was sent off for a forearm to the face of fellow England international Tommy Freeman in the 14th minute at Franklin's Gardens.
"He (Tuilagi) is gutted," said Sale boss Alex Sanderson, whose side remain on course for the play-offs despite this loss.
"He's apologised and said he owes us," he added of the 31-year-old Tuilagi, capped 50 times by England."He fully owns what happened out there and that's the kind of man he is.
"I know he will pay us back but all of that is tough to take when you're still reeling from a game that we could have won and we probably should have won.
"This was a game where he wanted to show how good he still is to England and those guys who are watching."
Despite Tuilagi's transgression, Sale's physicality up front meant they were 24-7 up at half-time through tries from Arron Reed, Tom Curry, Rob Du Preez and Ewan Ashman.
But the Saints closed the gap after the break, with tries from Freeman and Matt Proctor as they cut the deficit to 27-19.
Sam Dugdale seemed to have made the game safe for the visitors but when Ashman was sin-binned, with Sale now down to 13 men, Saints scored a penalty try before further unanswered efforts from Callum Braley and Fraser Dingwall secured a remarkable win.
Scotland scrum-half Ben White was among the try-scorers as London Irish ended a 14-year-losing streak at Bath with a 25-10 win.
White has been one of the stars of Scotland's Six Nations revival, his new half-back partnership with Finn Russell a key factor in a win over England followed by a record 35-7 rout of Wales.
This week was one of the tournament's rest weeks, with many teams keen to take their key men out of the firing line.
But with the 24-year-old White playing for an English club, Scotland cannot prevent London Irish from deploying him outside the international window.
White was initially on the bench at Bath's Recreation Ground but came on after half an hour to replace the struggling Joe Powell.
English-born but Scotland qualified through a grandfather, he soon made his presence felt.
"We made a change at scrum-half because it wasn't happening for Joe," said London Irish assistant coach Brad Davis, whose side led 12-10 at the break after White finished off a period of intense pressure with a try.
"We made it early which was the right decision."
