Dimes: We will learn from French lesson
SALE director of rugby Steve Diamond was proud of his young side’s effort despite falling to a 30-23 defeat at La Rochelle on Friday night.
But they will be without AJ MacGinty for at least three months after he dislocated his shoulder.
The Sharks are now unable to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Heineken Champions Cup despite claiming a losing bonus point at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre.
However, Diamond believes there were plenty of positives to take out of the game, for which he made 15 changes to the squad which had hammered Harlequins at the AJ Bell Stadium in the Gallagher Premiership the previous week.
He said: “We played very well in the first half but we made two errors and La Rochelle scored two tries from those errors.
“La Rochelle didn’t have to work very hard in the first half. During the second half they overpowered us, but I’m not too disappointed.”
And Diamond believes his young players will have learned an awful lot from having to play in front of a partisan French crowd. He said: “I thought it was a fairly good performance. Seven of our matchday 23 were 18 years of age. I run the club that way and I have to have my kids coming through.
“To get experience in such a hostile environment is fantastic.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t get any closer but on the night we were beaten by a better team.”
Tries from Tevita Railevu, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Geoffrey Doumayrou and Gregory Alldritt, along with 10 points from the boot of Ihaia West, secured a bonus point victory for the hosts.
Jean-Luc du Preez and Curtis Langdon scored Sale’s tries, with AJ MacGinty and James Williams kicking 13 points between them.
Jean-Luc du Preez opened the scoring as he powered his way over from short-range but the hosts hit back with two tries in the space of three minutes after Kevin Gourdon was yellow carded for an intentional knock-on.
Kerr-Barlow sparked the French outfit into life with Railevu crossing at the left-hand corner before the former All Blacks scrum-half intercepted Will Cliff’s pass to run in unopposed from 40 metres out.
La Rochelle started the second half strongly and after a number of powerful carries Kerr-Barlow raced clear before drawing his man to put Doumayrou over.
Ashton was sent to the sin-bin for a trip before Valery Morozov was shown a red card due to driving his shoulder with force into the head of Lopeti Timani, who was shown a yellow card after a neck roll on Morozov.
Alldritt claimed the bonus point try, only for Langdon to bring Sale within seven points with a late score.
Diamond added: “AJ MacGinty dislocated his shoulder so he is probably out for three to four months.
“That’s disappointing but we have to weather those storms and we have other players who can play there.
“He was controlling play very well in the first half and he’s a good defender. Overall I thought the team showed some good spirit. I thought it could have gone either way.”