Gloucester Rugby boss George Skivington hailed the influence of Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams after his team underlined their Gallagher Premiership play-off credentials with a 36-20 victory over Sale Sharks.

Williams scored one of Gloucester’s five tries and was a threat throughout the game to a Sale defence that prevented Bristol from scoring a point against them eight days earlier. The victory, following a disappointing defeat at Exeter Chiefs in Round Nine, saw Gloucester climb to fifth, just three points off Leicester in fourth.

“Tomos was great again today. He has delivered on and off the field. He is just full of energy and links our play up well,” Skivington said.

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“He is a cheeky chap. He has a laugh and all the rest of it but when it comes to training and playing, he is on it, he is not messing around any more, and his ability to flick the switch between the two is great.

“He is engaged, he wants to win, he is competitive, and his influence will rub off on the young lads here.”

Wales international back Max Llewellyn scored two tries as Gloucester’s five-point maximum kept them firmly in the top-four race.

Sale’s hopes of securing a fourth successive Premiership win floundered on an outstanding first half display by Gloucester that produced touchdowns for Llewellyn, full-back Santi Carreras and wing Josh Hathaway and saw their attacking game showcased in all its glory.

“It is very hard work to attack the way we attack,” Skivington added. “The boys are working hard on things like timing and lines of running. There is a huge amount of work that goes into it and we have seen the pay-off from that. We have got trust in the players. They have got 100 per cent backing from me to go for it.”

Williams’ club and international half-back partner Gareth Anscombe, meanwhile, went off at half-time and Skivington said: “He took a bang on the knee.

“I talked to him at half-time and he wasn’t moving particularly well, so we knocked it on the head. We could have pushed him out and kept him playing but I am not an advocate of doing that. I tend to whip lads off when I feel they are not quite 100 per cent. Hopefully, it is nothing too serious.”

Sale trailed 22-3 after 26 minutes and it proved too much for them to claw back despite tries from skipper Ben Curry, hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie and wing Tom Roebuck, while centre Rob du Preez kicked a penalty and conversion.

Llewellyn’s 60th-minute score and a late Williams touchdown saw Gloucester home, with Carreras completing an accomplished performance by landing a penalty and four conversions for a 16-point haul.

Gloucester Rugby: 15. Santi Carreras, 14. Max Llewellyn, 13. Chris Harris, 12. Seb Atkinson, 11. Josh Hathaway, 10. Gareth Anscombe, 9. Tomos Williams; 1. Mayco Vivas, 2. Jack Singleton, 3. Kirill Gotovtsev, 4. Freddie Thomas, 5. Arthur Clark, 6. Jack Clement, 7. Lewis Ludlow (c), 8. Ruan Ackermann

Replacements: 16. Seb Blake, 17. Val Rapava-Ruskin, 18. Ciaran Knight, 19. Freddie Clarke, 20. Albert Tuisue, 21. Caolan Englefield, 22. George Barton, 23. Charlie Atkinson

Sale Sharks: 15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Rob du Preez, 12. Luke James, 11. Tom O’Flaherty, 10. Tom Curtis, 9. Raffi Quirke, 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3. Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 4. Ernst van Rhyn, 5. Jonny Hill, 6. Tom Curry, 7. Ben Curry ©, 8. JL du Preez.

Replacements: 16. Ethan Caine, 17. Si McIntyre, 18. WillGriff John, 19. Josh Beaumont, 20. Dan du Preez, 21. Gus Warr, 22. Sam Bedlow, 23. Sam Dugdale.

Referee: Jack Makepeace

Assistant Referees: George Selwood & Gareth Holsgrove

TMO: Peter Allan