Sale claim another success

Sale Sharks took a step closer to the quarterfinals of the European Challenge Cup but victory was over-shadowed by a serious injury to Worcester's Paul Warwick.

Dwayne Peel, Sam Tuitupou and Jonathan Mills all crossed as Sharks claimed an impressive 21-3 win at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Victory saw Sale move five points clear at the top of Pool 1 but their failure to clinch a bonus point has opened the door for Biarritz to draw level when they play Oyonnax on Saturday.

However, there was concern for Warriors fly-half Warwick who was carried away on a stretcher mid-way through the second-half after play was stopped for 10 minutes for treatment.

Sale made a bright start, marked by James Gaskell's break, only for Danny Cipriani to knock-on in sight of the line.

Cipriani recovered to kick the opening points on nine minutes before Peel started and finished an attack, involving Mark Cueto and Gaskell, for the game's opening try.

Cipriani missed the conversion but exchanged penalties with Warwick, after Worcester's scrum took one against the head, as Sale held on to lead 11-3 at half-time despite good work from Warriors pair Josh Watkins and Richard De Carpentier.

Former British & Irish Lions scrum-half Peel again proved the catalyst when he sent Jonathan Mills over just three minutes into the second half, though Cipriani again missed the conversion.

Peel then spotted an opening after capitalising on a strike against the head by his scrum and Tuitupou stretched out to score on the hour. Nick MacLeod failed to convert.

Following the break for Warwick's injury, Gaskell went close before Sale finished with 14 men after Tuitupou was sin binned for deliberately knocking down the ball.

Sharks held out for the victory to stay in pole position for a place in the knock-out stages, although they may yet have to win at Biarritz to secure a place in the last eight.

* In the other match on Friday Bordeaux-Begles will stay alive in Pool Two for another day at least after they eased to a 10-try triumph over Mogliano.

The Top 14 team knew that a victory of any sort would see them avoid a premature exit until Saturday at least when pool leaders Bath head to Newport Gwent Dragons.

And they achieved that target with minimum effort as they raced into an early lead and never looked in danger of letting that advantage slip.

Former European Cup winning hooker Raphael Ibanez saw his Bordeaux side score twice inside the opening 10 minutes and there was never likely to be any way back for Mogliano from there on in. The first score came courtesy of a penalty try just five minutes in, with the second coming from inside centre Thibault Lacroix four minutes later.

The third try followed through Marco Tauleigne after a quarter of an hour and, with scrum-half Baptiste Serin kicking all three conversions for a 21-0 lead, Mogliano were starring down the barrel of a cricket score.

But they stemmed the flow as the opening period wore on and kept their line intact for the remainder of the half thanks to some dogged defence and a growing number of unforced errors from the hosts.

That mini-resurgence was ended just two minutes after the restart, though, as Lacroix crossed for his second score and his side's fourth try.

With the bonus point in the bag, Bordeaux kicked on, adding a fifth try through blindside flanker Gauthier Gibouin two minutes later and a sixth from Patrick Toetu before the second period was nine minutes old.

Robert Lilomaiava and Charles Brousse added further scores before Argentine full back Joaquim Tuculet bagged a brace either side of a consolation try from Enrico Bacchin.

All Friday's results and scorers:

Bordeaux-Begles 64-7 Mogliano

The scorers:

For Bordeaux-Begles:

Tries: Penalty try, Lacroix 2, Tauleigne, Gibouin, Toetu, Lilomaiava, Brousse, Tuculet, Tuculet

Cons: Serin 5, Saubusse 2

For Mogliano:

Try: Bacchin

Con: Cornwell

Teams:

Bordeaux-Begles: 15 Joaquim Tuculet, 14 Rafael Carballo, 13 Charles Brousse, 12 Thibault Lacroix, 11 Robert Lilomaiava, 10 Romain Lonca, 9 Baptiste Serin, 8 Marco Tauleigne, 7 Poutasi Luafatu, 6 Gauthier Gibouin, 5 Adam Jaulhac, 4 Cameron Treloar (captain), 3 Patrick Toetu, 2 Benat Auzqui, 1 Jefferson Poirot.

Replacements: 16 Jean-Charles Fidinde, 17 Laurent Delboulbes, 18 Zaza Navrozashvili, 19 Matthew Graham, 20 Louis Madaule, 21 Manu Saubusse, 22 Gilem Queheille, 23 Jean-Baptiste Lamotte.

Mogliano: 15 Nicolo' Fadalti, 14 Marco Gazzola, 13 Giovanni Benvenuti, 12 Tommaso Boni, 11 Filippo Guarducci, 10 Matt Cornwell, 9 Edoardo Padovani, 8 Meyer Swanepoel, 7 Marco Lazzaroni, 6 Andrea Ceccato (captain), 5 Federico Maso, 4 Enrico Pavanello, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Ivan Gianesini, 1 Davide Meggetto.

Replacements: 16 Ornel Gega, 17 Derrick Appiah, 18 Alessio Ceglie, 19 Andrea Trotta, 20 Thorleif Halvorsen, 21 Jacopo Bocchi, 22 Enrico Bacchin, 23 Ezio Galon.

Referee: Ian Tempest (England)

Assistant referees: Andrew Small (England), Paul Dix (England)

Sale Sharks 21-3 Worcester

The scorers:

For Sale Sharks:

Tries: Peel, Mills, Tuitupou

Pens: Cipriani 2

For Worcester Warriors:

Pen: Warwick

Teams:

Sale Sharks: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 James Gaskell, 7 David Seymour, 6 Dan Braid (captain), 5 Michael Paterson, 4 Jon Mills, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Eifion Lewis-Roberts.

Replacements: 16 Tommy Taylor, 17 Ross Harrison, 18 Vadim Cobilas, 19 Andrei Ostrikov, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Nick MacLeod, 23 Tom Arscott.

Worcester Warriors: 15 Ben Howard, 14 Josh Drauniniu, 13 Max Stelling, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Josh Watkins, 10 Paul Warwick, 9 Jonny Arr, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Richard De Carpentier, 6 Chris Jones, 5 Mike Williams, 4 Dean Schofield (captain), 3 John Andress, 2 Edd Shervington, 1 Jeremy Becasseau.

Replacements: 16 Nick Seymour, 17 George Porter, 18 Rob O'Donnell, 19 James Percival, 20 Sam Betty, 21 Paul Hodgson, 22 Ignacio Mieres, 23 Ravai Fatiaki.

Referee: David Wilkinson (Ireland)

Assistant referees: Kieran Barry (Ireland), John Carvill (Ireland)