Manu Tuilagi suffered a worrying head harm as Sale romped to a bonus-point win of their Champions Cup opener.
The England centre was harm in an enormous collision which compelled him off within the thirty second minute.
Tuilagi carried the ball at tempo from midfield however got here off significantly worse in opposition to the Ulster defence.
Sale’s director of rugby Alex Sanderson fears the 31-year-old might now miss Sunday’s crunch journey to French giants Toulouse.
Manu Tuilagi collides with the Ulster defence throughout Sale Sharks’ Champions Cup victory
Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson fears Tuilagi might now be sidelined via harm
He mentioned: ‘I’ve bought to verify to see if Manu was knocked out utterly, however he’s bought a nasty gash on his lip which requires stitches.
‘I believe his tooth got here via his lip, so if it’s simply beauty then he can be in a position roll out once more.
Tuilagi will endure assessments on his head harm
‘If it’s one thing a bit extra critical, we’ll take care of his head and comply with the protocols and whether or not he passes his assessments.
‘It was deemed a HIA due to the magnitude the collision however I noticed him at half-time and he was apologising to me for breaking his face. I imply, what a person, nevertheless it was horrific to take a look at.’
England flanker Tom Curry completed off an aesthetic transfer to open the scoring and Dan du Preez added a second earlier than the break.
Brother Rob du Preez — who additionally kicked 9 factors — Tom Curtis, Byron McGuigan and Arron Reed additionally went over within the second half.
It was the right consequence for Sale heading into their Christmas celebration on Sunday night and inspired Sanderson that his males can go additional than final season’s journey to the quarter-finals.
Sale can be hoping to have Tuilagi (center) match once more for his or her journey to Toulouse on Sunday
He added: ‘The Champions Cup is a troublesome competitors and this places down a little bit of marker for us. I’m certain it would put the hackles up of a few of Toulouse’s gamers however it will likely be actually powerful going there.’
Ulster boss Dan McFarland mentioned: ‘Bodily, we struggled in opposition to Sale all around the park. They have been glorious.’
