Sale ran out to the hosts' less than welcoming choice of song, Road to Nowhere by Talking Heads. But it is Wasps who find themselves in an early cul-de-sac after a second successive Premiership defeat.
It may not be time to push panic buttons in west London this week - Wasps are without a number of key players and the champions lost three of their opening four games last season - but their director of rugby Warren Gatland was realistic afterwards. "If we drop a couple more games we will struggle to get things back on track," he said.
Gatland is without key men in his England trio of Simon Shaw, Stuart Abbott and Fraser Waters, but perhaps the biggest injury loss at present is that of Craig Dowd. The former All Black prop will have winced from his vantage point on the touchline as an early Wasps scrum was driven backwards.
Shaw may return in a fortnight but Wasps can ill afford to lose their England wing Josh Lewsey, who broke a bone in his hand and may be out for a month. While it is difficult to envisage Wasps fighting relegation this winter, Saturday's defeat illustrates how brutally competitive the Premiership has become.
The Sharks were not expected to rattle too many cages this season, given they had lost half a pack to Saracens, but after their win over Leicester Sale have now beaten arguably the two strongest sides in the country. "We've got used to being written off," said their captain Jason Robinson. "But this has motivated us. Yes, we've lost a lot of players but we've recruited some quality replacements. Now we have to show a little more consistency."
The Sale coach Philippe Saint-André acknowledged that it was not time to be carried away by their success, this latest victory coming thanks to two interception tries in the first half through Robert Todd and Steve Hanley.
Todd pulled Tim Payne's early pass out of the air and Hanley latched on to a wayward effort from Lawrence Dallaglio. Both backs ran tries in from distance, unopposed by defences in attacking mode. Just after the break, Hanley showed his finishing power when he grabbed a pass from his fellow wing Mark Cueto to blast past Dallaglio and Matt Dawson.
The game ebbed and flowed breathlessly. It was 20-20 at the break and 30-30 a minute from time until Charlie Hodgson dropped the winning goal from 40 metres. The fly-half may not quite have taken over Jonny Wilkinson's mantle this year but his 15 points and that nerveless kick saw him do a pretty good impersonation. Robinson's first drop-goal in rugby union had opened an afternoon of dizzy scoring.
Dawson scored a try on his home debut and his black left eye shows his commitment to his new club. By comparison, Dallaglio looks weary. Stepping down from international rugby does not look an easy option for the Wasps captain.
Sale, though, will be licking their lips at the prospect of facing Saracens on Friday night with top spot in the Premiership at stake. And it is good to have the French philosopher king Saint-André back in the Premiership with his gloriously idiosyncratic English.
"Scoring tries is the apéritif [and] the dessert, but the set-piece is the main course," he mused. All in all, this was a pretty tasty dish.
Wasps: Van Gisbergen; Lewsey, Erinle, Richards, Voyce; King (Brooks, 48), Dawson; Payne, Gotting (Greening, 48), Green (McKenzie, 77), Skivington (Hart, 60), Birkett, Worsley, O'Connor, Dallaglio (capt).
Tries: Richards, Payne, Dawson. Cons: King 2, Van Gisbergen. Pens: King 2, Van Gisbergen.
Sale: Robinson (capt); Cueto, Baxendell, Todd, Hanley (Hercus, 48); Hodgson, Martens (Redpath, 48); Sheridan, Titterrell, Turner (Stewart, 60), Caillet (Woodman, 48), Schofield (White, 54), Jones, Lund, Chabal (Bruno, 69).
Tries: Todd, Hanley 2. Cons: Hodgson 3. Pens: Hodgson 2. Drop goals: Robinson, Hodgson.
Referee: R Maybank (Kent).
Att: 7,011.
