Strange week for Sale ends with European defeat on the road
SALE started the week by losing director of rugby Steve Diamond and ended it with a defeat at the hands of Toulon in their Heineken Champions Cup opener.
Diamond left the Sharks on Tuesday after 10 years for ‘personal reasons’ and without him they struggled to cope with their French opponents, for whom Louis Carbonel was outstanding.
The France fly-half contributed 16 points as Toulon’s tries came from wing pair Gabin Villiere and Ramiro Moyano, but Sale did rally from 26-0 down.
Marland Yarde and Sam Phillips grabbed consolation tries, but the Sharks’ poor discipline and line-out struggles cost them.
Sale competed on an equal footing for the opening quarter and it took until the 21st minute for Carbonel to score. In the first five minutes the Sharks were indebted to superb defence from Cobus Wiese stopping what looked like being a certain try.
That moment aside, Sale were not afraid to have a go. AJ MacGinty would have been disappointed to not be successful with a penalty attempt.
Sale were keen to move the ball from side to side, but their attempt to do so saw former New Zealand superstar Ma’a Nonu smash Simon Hammersley in midfield. Toulon won the penalty through some fine breakdown work from Villiere and Carbonel made it 6-0.
Hammersley did brilliantly to reclaim MacGinty’s restart, but more magic from Carbonel created the game’s first try. The fly-half chipped ahead, collected his own kick, and sent Villiere away to score, with Carbonel converting.
The Toulon pitch was cutting up badly, but after Toulon won a scrum penalty, Carbonel sent his team to the break 16-0 up with the last kick of the half. And he started the second period as he ended the first, with a penalty, and then saw his loosehead prop Jean-Baptiste Gros break clear.
Sale lost Jono Ross to a head injury assessment while Toulon’s Eben Etzebeth went the same way after the two players collided.
Faf De Klerk came on to try and turn the tide back Sale’s way, but he could not stop Toulon’s second try.
Replacement hooker Christopher Tolofua barged his way through and found Sergio Parisse. The veteran Italian was tackled by De Klerk but produced a miracle offload to wing Moyano and Carbonel added the extras.
Sale hit back through Yarde and it was a fine try. Sam James kicked ahead with his left foot and Sam Dugdale did brilliantly to collect and send Yarde over the line, and MacGinty converted.
They grabbed a second try when their forwards drove forward and De Klerk found lock Phillips who scored between the posts.