Sale start Heineken adventure with win
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:50
The grand prize: The Heineken Cup
All Black international Luke McAlister provided all the necessary class for the Sale Sharks as they recorded a fantastic 32-15 Heineken Cup opening round win in Clermont.
Two tries in the final ten minutes gave the visitors the extra bit to celebrate as they claimed a bonus point and now move to the of the pool with Munster having only scored the four points in their opening game in last nights clash with Montauban.
The English side started the game full of running and, while the Clermont defence looked solid, it was positive stuff from Fernandez Lobbe and his men. McAlister gave them the early lead with after six minutes when he converted his first attempt at the goalposts.
The home side responded with their forwards particularly starting to put the squeeze on their opponents. Despite the improvement though it was McAlister again who had the next opportunity to add to the scoreboard. The New Zealanders’ second penalty kick seemed to silence the home fans who had obviously come to the ground hopeful of seeing another exciting performance from their own teams stars.
While Philippe Saint-Andre would no doubt have been happy that his side had the early advantage, in truth, neither side had really began to play and, with almost a quarter of the fixture in the bag, the fans had definitely not seen their money’s worth of excitement.
Suddenly then though came a moment of magic. A counter attack from the visiting side from inside their own half saw left wing David Doherty finally crash over. Scrumhalf Dwayne Peel, with the support of Lobbe, gave Doherty all the space he needed to finish off and give them a 13-0 lead.
Clermont slowly started to build once more and, with two penalties from flyhalf Brock James, got themselves back to within touching distance at half time.
James was the first to add scoreboard aftert the break with his third successful penalty kick of the afternoon but the momentum soon then swung back to the Sharks. A stolen line out led to a Sean Lamont break and, with Luke McAlister in support, he was able to send the final pass to the Kiwi player and give his side the vital score.
The impressive McAlister then converted his own try and Sale looked set to upset the powerful French Top 14 team.
Clermont though refused to let the Premiership side stay out of touch. Two more penalties from James made the score 20-15 heading into the final ten minutes and the home fans stared to find their voices.
Unfortunately it was not their team who stepped up in the closing stages. Rudi Keil and Mark Cueto both scored late tries for the Sharks and gave Sale a comprehensive 32-15 win. With the French side looking to attack from deep they were made to pay for sloppy work at the breakdown. Turnover ball, inside their own 22, ended with Keil strolling his way over the line.
The Sharks then, unbelievably, grabbed a valuable bonus point try just two minutes from full time. McAlister again involved, was provider, drawing two defenders before feeding Cueto who finished in the corner.
In the end then it was a memorable day for Saint-Andre back in France but Celrmont will be bitterely disappointed they were never able to make full use of their dangerous men out wide.
Scorers:
Clermont:
Pens: James 5
Sale:
Tries: Doherty, McAlister, Keil, Cueto
Con: McAlister 3
Pens: McAlister 2
Teams:
Clermont: 15 Anthony Floch, 14 Napolioni Nalaga, 13 Benoit Baby, 12 Seremaïa Baï, 11 Julien Malzieu, 10 Brock James, 9 Pierre Mignoni, 8 Elvis Vermeulen (captain), 7 Alexandre Audebert, 6 Julien Bonnaire, 5 Thibaut Privat, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Davit Zirakashvili, 2 Mario
Ledesma, 1 Laurent Emmanuelli.
Replacements: 16 Mirko Lozupone, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Christophe Samson, 19 Emmanuel Etien; 20 John Senio, 21 Pierre-Manuel Garcia, 22 Arnaud Mignardi.
Sale Sharks: 15 Rory Lamont, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Luke McAlister, 12 Lee Thomas, 11 David Doherty, 10 Richard Wigglesworth, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Luke Abraham, 6 Juan Fernandez Lobbe (captain), 5 Kristian Ormsby, 4 Chris Jones, 3 Eifion Roberts, 2 Neil Briggs, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 Stuart Turner, 18 Dean Schofield, 19 Jason White, 20 Charlie Hodgson, 21 Chris Bell, 22 Rudi Keil.
