Boks score as Sharks sweep aside Racing

WRAP: Sale Sharks revived their Champions Cup hopes and struck back for English clubs as they beat Racing 92 29-7 on a rainy Friday in Manchester.

Meanwhile, Castres rebounded from their first-round disaster and survived their wasteful kicking and poor discipline to edge visiting Munster 16-14.

Sale suffered a heavy defeat in Glasgow in their opener in Pool Four, but were ruthless in slippery conditions against the Parisians, who had opened with a win over English club Harlequins.

Jean-Luc du Preez battered over after 18 minutes but brother Robert missed the conversion.

With defenders slipping and sliding, Tom Roebuck added a second try in the corner. This time Robert du Preez converted.

Guram Gogichashvili replied for the visitors and Nolann le Garrec converted with the last kick of the half.

But second-half tries by Joe Carpenter and skipper Ben Curry secured a bonus point.

“That loss last week wasn’t us so the messaging all week was about returning home and doing what we do best and that was more like us,” said Curry.

Of the four French clubs that faced English clubs in the first round, only Castres, which was thrashed in Northampton, lost.

On Friday, they quickly took control against two-time champions Munster.

No.8 Abraham Papali’i powered over from a line-out after 13 minutes. Quentin Walcker smashed over after 30 minutes.

They only led 10-0 because Jeremy Fernandez missed both conversions and had also missed a penalty.

Three minutes after scoring, Walcker saw yellow for a high tackle.

While he was off, Munster flank John Hodnett went over from a maul and Jack Crowley converted.

No sooner did Walcker return than Geoffrey Palis went off for a deliberate knock-on.

But with his team a man down, Fernandez finally landed a penalty. His replacement Julien Dumora missed with a 63rd-minute penalty which would have put the hosts two scores ahead.

Castres replacement prop Nicolas Corato, who had just come on, received a yellow as his team committed a series of offences defending their line.

Munster capitalised with a second Hodnett try, again converted by Crowley.

But Louis Le Brun. the third Castres kicker of the match, landed a 73rd-minute penalty to win an ugly game.

All of Friday’s scores and scorers are below …

Sale Sharks 29-7 Racing 92

The scorers

For Sale Sharks
Tries: JL du Preez, Roebuck, Carpenter, B Curry
Cons: R du Preez 3
Pen: R du Preez

For Racing
Try: Gogichashvili
Con: Le Garrec

Yellow card: Maxime Baudonne (Racing, 59)

Teams

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Robert du Preez, 12 Luke James, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 George Ford, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Dan du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (captain), 6 Jean-Luc du Preez, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Ben Bamber, 3 James Harper, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Bevan Rodd.
Replacements: 16 Tadgh McElroy, 17 Si McIntyre, 18 Willgriff John, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Sam Dugdale, 21 Raffi Quirke, 22 Waisea Nayacalevu Vuidravuwalu, 23 Alex Wills.

Racing 92: 15 Tristan Tedder, 14 Henry Arundell, 13 Sam James, 12 Henry Chavancy, 11 Max Spring, 10 Dan Lancaster, 9 Nolann le Garrec, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Maxime Baudonne, 6 Cameron Woki (captain), 5 Will Rowlands, 4 Junior Kpoku, 3 Lucio Sordoni, 2 Camille Chat, 1 Guram Gogichashvili.
Replacements: 16 Diego Escobar, 17 Lino Julien, 18 Gia Kharaishvili, 19 Fabien Sanconnie, 20 Ibrahim Diallo, 21 Clovis le Bail, 22 Antoine Gibert, 23 Wame Naituvi.

Referee: Craig Evans
Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse, Adam Jones
TMO: Aled Griffiths

Castres Olympique 16-14 Munster

The scorers

For Castres
Tries: Papalii, Walcker
Pens: Fernandez, Le Brun

For Munster
Tries: Hodnett 2
Cons: Crowley 2

Yellow cards: Quentin Walcker (Castres, 33), Geoffrey Palis (Castres, 44), Nicolas Corato (Castres, 68)

Teams

Castres Olympique: 15 Julien Dumora, 14 Geoffrey Palis, 13 Jack Goodhue, 12 Andrea Cocagi, 11 Rémy Baget, 10 Louis le Brun, 9 Jeremy Fernandez, 8 Abraham Papalii, 7 Tyler Ardron, 6 Mathieu Babillot (captain), 5 Leone Nakarawa, 4 Gauthier Maravat, 3 Will Collier, 2 Gaetan Barlot, 1 Quentin Walcker.
Replacements: 16 Loris Zarantonello, 17 Wayan de Benedittis, 18 Nicolas Corato, 19 Paul Jedrasiak, 20 Feibyan Tukino, 21 Santiago Arata, 22 Theo Chabouni, 23 Adrien Seguret.

Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Alex Nankivell, 11 Thaakir Abrahams, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Brian Gleeson, 7 John Hodnett, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Tadhg Beirne (captain), 4 Fineen Wycherley, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Dian Bleuler.
Replacements: 16 Diarmuid Barron, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Oli Jager, 19 Tom Ahern, 20 Alex Kendellen, 21 Paddy Patterson, 22 Rory Scannell, 23 Jack O’Donoghue.

Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant referees: Hamish Smales, Joe James
TMO: Dan Jones