The European Rugby Challenge Cup finalists gave themselves a mountain to climb at the AJ Bell Stadium, falling 16-3 behind at the break with AJ MacGinty maintaining his excellent European form as he slotted four kicks and set up Byron McGuigan for the Sale try.

However, Youngs – who could make his 75th European appearance in the Challenge Cup final against Montpellier – was pleased with the resolve shown by Leicester who forced a penalty try in the second period before tiring in the final 20 minutes.

“We are still a pretty young team in terms of experience together on the pitch and still learning about one another,” Youngs said.

“But, there are positive signs and we are definitely improving, we just need to keep working hard at training every week, learning fast and trust in what the coaches have in place.

“Steve [Borthwick] is doing a great job and everybody is committed to what we are building at Tigers; there's a plan in place, we know that we are nowhere near where we want to be and there is a lot of hard work ahead.

“It's going to take time and patience but, ultimately, going to take hard work and we are all on board with that.”

You can watch the European Rugby Challenge Cup final between Leicester Tigers and Montpellier live from 20:00 (UK and Irish time) on Friday 21 May, live on BT Sport.

Leicester Tigers scrum-half Ben Youngs has praised his side’s inexperienced squad despite falling to a 26-10 defeat to Sale Sharks in the Gallagher Premiership on Friday night.