Northampton took another sure step towards a Premiership play-off place, having secured a bonus point before the interval, but Sale will be relieved when the season is over.
The match was overshadowed when the Sharks' Wales and Lions scrum-half Dwayne Peel was carried off on a stretcher with concussion 12 minutes into the game, after a worrying delay, and the injury seemed to sap the spirit of the visitors.
It was to Sale's credit that they fought back after being 19-3 down at the end of the first quarter, when they were down to 14 men, their hooker Neil Briggs having been sent to the sin-bin and their scrum being steamrollered, to make a game of it.
Charlie Hodgson was at his imperious best, orchestrating some sumptuous backline moves. Sale, who have been heavily recruiting a bunch of hard-nut forwards for next season, will find the fly-half hard to replace when he moves to Saracens in the summer.
But Sale hardly helped themselves when, after pulling themselves back to within five points of the Saints, four minutes into the second half, with a try by their lock, Wame Lewaravu, Briggs was sent off for his part in a punch-up during the move that led up to the try. Playing nearly half the game with 14 men against a Northampton side in this mood proved to be no picnic.
Northampton had already carried on from where they left off against London Wasps last weekend, when they scored three tries in the first quarter. Sale were penalised at a scrum, referee David Rose awarded a penalty against them and Lee Dickson tapped the ball and scampered over. After Peel had departed, Paul Diggin spotted a gap and threw a pass to Chris Ashton who swallow-dived over in the corner. When Mr Rose sent Briggs off the first time, for collapsing Saints' driving maul, the seven-man Sale pack was hurtled backwards and the referee awarded the first of two penalty tries.
Sale's task looked hopeless, but they continued to play some ambitious rugby and Marc Jones played a memorable cameo role as temporary replacement for Briggs when he scored in the corner after Sisaro Koyamaibole and Mark Cueto had made inroads into the Northampton defence.
When Northampton's No8 was also sent to the sin-bin, Sale sensed they could haul themselves back into the game, but Brian Mujati secured the bonus point just before the break when a gap opened up for the prop from a lineout and he charged over. After Briggs had departed, the second half became a riot of scoring.
Tom Wood scored his first try for Northampton, diving over in the corner after an initial break by Ben Foden. There was another penalty try, Bruce Reihana trotted on to score with his first touch and another replacement, Phil Dowson, landed the eighth try to complete a long afternoon for the Sharks.
