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Montpellier 14 Sale Sharks 14

Jenny Dixon
23/ 1/2008

SHARKS’ final pool game of the European Challenge Cup turned into a farce that famous French playwright Moliere would have been proud to pen.

Despite securing a draw at Stade Yves-du-Manoir the visiting players and fans trudged out of the ground looking morose, a reflection of the under-par performance by Sale.

In contrast Montpellier’s supporters held vociferous celebrations after their late qualification for the quarter-finals, the sell-out crowd relieved that their team’s efforts on Saturday night had been rewarded.

Two-times European Challenge Cup champions Sharks lost their unblemished record, in the first round of the competition, with a 14-14 draw.

They went into the match top seeds but dropped to third, and therefore miss out on the perks of a guaranteed home semi-final.

Centre Luke McAlister fought hard to clock-up Sharks’ points tally, scoring three penalties and a try, but the game came to a bizarre and disheartening end as the video referee ruled out his penalty kick in the seventh minute of injury time.

The controversy surrounding the unprecedented decision to request televised confirmation of the penalty attempt, however, was overshadowed by the fact that Sharks’ strong squad failed to annul the opposition well before that point.

In the opening minutes Sale managed to secure three attacking line-outs just metres from Montpellier’s tryline and, though no points were gained, it looked like the travelling players possessed the desire required to demolish a proud French team on their home turf. It didn’t last.

Montpellier were lifted by the talismanic efforts of their young No.8 Louis Picamoles, whose mighty effort and constant niggly presence at the breakdown made Sebastien Chabal look meek in comparison.

The visitors were first made aware of the attacking threat when Rory Lamont was forced into a desperate tryline clearance of Jerome Vallee’s grubber kick.

But it wasn’t until the 35th minute that the first points were put on the board by McAlister, who kicked in the tie instead of Charlie Hodgson, after Picamoles dragged down the line-out jumper.

Former All Black centre McAlister converted despite the cacophany of boos from the vocal sell-out crowd, but the sound-track quickly changed from jeers to cheers as Sharks momentarily dropped their guard allowing flanker Warren Britz to slip through under the posts.

Montpellier flyhalf Federico Todeschini converted.

During the next five minutes McAlister steered Sharks back into the lead, first with a penalty kick and then an incredible long-range try, scooping the ball off the floor following a poor pass by scrum-half Sililo Martens.

From his own half McAlister raced in to touch down, giving Sharks an 11-7 lead at half-time.

The former All Black extended the lead by a further three points, 10 minutes into the second half, following the sin-binning of winger Olivier Sarramea.

But, when Sale fullback Mark Cueto was also shown a yellow card, for obstruction, Sharks allowed the lead to slip from their grasp.

A try for wing Sebastien Kuzbik was narrowly averted by Chris Mayor who piled him into touch, but there was no stopping Montpellier’s man-of-the-match Picamoles who picked up the ball from the base of a scrum and charged over.

The successful conversion levelled the scores and Sharks, gifted seven minutes of extra time, tried everything to claw back the points’ advantage.

Nothing worked. Two penalty chances and a drop goal attempt by Hodgson went wide and even an attacking scrum, five metres from the opposition’s line, couldn’t salvage a barely-deserved victory for Sharks.

Sharks head coach Kingsley Jones said: "It’s not a very good result for us.

"We’ve got enough quality and experience to have won that game.

"After a pretty dramatic finish I feel drained and frustrated."