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Clermont Auvergne 15 Sale Sharks 32

13/10/2008

SALE Sharks caught French Top 14 side Clermont Auvergne cold to claim a valuable Heineken Cup Pool Two victory on the road.

A banner draped over the front of one of the Stade Marcel Michelin's massive stands before kick-off welcomed Sale director of rugby Philippe Saint Andre back to his former stamping ground.

Saint Andre was, however, left counting the cost of his side’s epic four-try win.

Sale face reigning European champions Munster at Edgeley park next Sunday and Saint Andre has lost centre Lee Thomas for up to six weeks with a shoulder injury and Wales and Lions scrum-half Dwayne Peel is an injury doubt for next week’s clash after suffering a first-half stinger.

“Lee Thomas has damaged his shoulder and he could need surgery but Peel could recover in time to play against Munster if we are lucky,” said Saint Andre, who described his side’s display as the best he has seen from them since they beat Leicester Tigers to win the Guinness Premiership final three seasons ago.

“If you come here and you’re not bold, you lose by 40 points,” said Saint-Andre, who was a cult figure for local supporters during his time with Montferrand.

“When we had the ball we tried to attack and be adventurous and I’m very proud of my team after seeing them put on their best performance in Europe and the best I’ve seen since we won the Premiership final.

“Now, we have to prove we can put two big performances back to back by beating Munster. If we win here and lose at home to Munster, the hard work we did here will count for very little.”

The hosts made a poor start in a hugely physical contest played at breakneck pace.

Saint Andre took Charlie Hodgson, whose defensive frailties are well known, out of the firing line and fielded England scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth at fly-half, paired with Wales and Lions hinge Dwayne Peel.

Sale's unexpected line-up also lacked England utility back Mathew Tait and England tighthead Andrew Sheridan.

But Luke McAlister, on goal-kicking duty in place of Hodgson, clipped over two penalties in the opening 15 minutes to give the Guinness Premiership side a 6-0 lead.

And they grabbed the first try of the game five minutes later, wing David Doherty finishing off a move sparked by Peel's midfield break from halfway with McAlister adding the conversion.

Adventurous

Clermont, who tried to be adventurous, were repeatedly frustrated by Sales' disciplined defensive work and the French side's handling errors kept them off the scoreboard until Brock James pegged three points back on the half-hour with a close-range penalty.

James pulled the deficit back to 13-6 four minutes later with a second penalty which, luckily for him, went over off the inside of the left-hand upright but he missed a chance to cut Sale's lead to four points at the interval, pulling his 35-metre goal shot wide.

Hodgson entered the fray six minutes into the second half, replacing Peel with Wigglesworth stepping up to scrum-half, just in time to see James cut another three points off his side's lead.

But the discarded England fly-half made his mark in the 52nd minute, his miss-pass setting up a superbly crafted try for McAlister, who converted his own score to give Sale a 20-9 lead.

James cut that by three points on the hour and a minute later McAlister fired narrowly wide with a monster kick from inside his own half as Sale looked to maintain their hard-won lead.

And they did that in style in the 73rd minute with a try from centre Rudi Keil with McAlister making it three successful conversions for a 17-point haul.

And Sale rubbed salt in the beaten home side's wounds with a fourth bonus-point try, which went unconverted, three minutes from time finished off by Mark Cueto.