Sale Sharks director of rugby Alex Sanderson hopes his side are on their way to becoming Saracens' main Premiership rivals.

The north west club have seven wins from nine games - the most in the league at the halfway stage.

"If you become one of Saracens' long-term rivals, then you're doing alright," said Sanderson.

"They have been the most consistent club in the land for the last 15 years. I would love that to be the case (to be rivals).

"But there are some other good teams out there."

'Not a nasty rivalry'

The two teams finished first and second last season with Saracens winning 35-25 in the May showpiece to lift the title.

But Sale have beaten them in the last two league meetings - both at the Salford Community Stadium - and have laid down a marker that they are determined to go one better this season.

With a cast of England and foreign internationals on both sides, Sanderson believes that there is a mutual respect, helped by the years he spent working for the London club before taking the reins at Sharks.

"There is definitely a respect between the two sides," he said.

"That's because of the relationships I've had with their coaches, and their players have been around a long time. George (Ford) and Faz (Owen Farrell) are good mates, and they're all England players.

"It's not a nasty rivalry, it's just two good teams wanting to get the better of each other, which is a good thing for the sport."

The narrow defeat was a fourth of the season for Saracens, and a second consecutive one after losing at home to Northampton Saints three weeks ago.

It is unlike the champions but director of rugby Mark McCall is not too concerned.

He cited the overlap with the World Cup and a challenging injury list as reasons why the north London club sit in the middle of the pack rather than at the top of it.

'Happy to stay in fight'

"The season has gone the way I thought it might," he told BBC Sport.

"When you have 13 players at the World Cup who drip back in at various times, some of them carrying some fatigue and some baggage and then we've had an injury list that we weren't expecting.

"We've done well to stay in the fight in the way we have in the league table. We're not too far away.

"Once we get some of our other personnel back, I'm optimistic the second half of the season will be a lot better.

"We've shown some glimpses in these nine games, but not enough. Hopefully we can turn those glimpses into something more."