Sale thrash Toulon to book play-off spot
MATCH REPORT: Sale Sharks thrashed Pool Four winners Toulon 33-7 at the Salford Stadium on Sunday, to secure a last-16 tie against Toulouse.
The result saw Racing 92 miss out on the knock-out phase.
A bonus point win was the minimum requirement for qualification, with a top-class second-half display ednsuring the desired result.
Despite the daunting prospect awaiting in the next round, Alex Sanderson has made his intentions to go far in this competition clear, so nerves were high as the clock hit 40 without any score.
However, a superb Tom Roebuck score just before the whistle provided the necessary momentum for a rampant second half, where Ben Curry, Bevan Rodd, Tom O’Flahery and Roebuck scored again.
Were it not for last week’s lingering frustrations, where Sale were fatally wasteful in the first half vs the Stormers, Roebuck’s opener would have been more than worth the wait.
That frustration appeared to permeate into the Sharks squad, with chances snatched at through the half where patience has prevailed in previous weeks.
Luke Cowan-Dickie and Asher Opoku-Fordjour were both held up either side of difficult chances that weren’t taken on Roebuck’s wing, Rob du Preez – on his 150th appearance for the club – threatening to link up with him to no avail.
Crucially, Roebuck was able to touch down in the last act of the half, profiting from a wonderfully worked attack from deep after Ben Curry stepped through in his own half, before a string of offloads – Quirke’s a highlight in particular – saw Bevan Rodd burst into the Toulon 22. The ball was recycled quickly and Tom O’Flaherty isolated the 2-on-1 out wide to release Roebuck with a tidy pass for the score.
It was much the same for the first 10 minutes of the second half as Alex Sanderson’s men saw chances go begging, but a moment of magic from Ben Curry bucked the trend memorably.
Curry’s England claims are rising to deafening levels and the decibel metre nearly reached breaking point when he cut through on a sumptuous line in the midfield before collecting his own grubber to score.
That try was the straw that broke the camel’s back and it was Bevan Rodd who picked up Sale’s third, crashing over from close range to reap the rewards of an excellent display against the Stormers last week.
The bonus point followed soon after, Tom O’Flaherty racing in from halfway with a clean pair of heels after Dan du Preez wreaked havoc on a Toulon ruck.
Until the 67th minute, there were the signs of another Byron McGuigan shutout, but a well-worked Toulon attack allowed flanker Jules Coulon to score. However, Tom Curry silenced the prospect of a comeback when he held up a threatening Toulon maul, before grubbering through a loose ball to help Roebuck score his second.
The scorers
For Sale Sharks
Tries: Roebuck 2, B Curry, Rodd, O’Flaherty
Cons: Ford 3, R du Preez
For Toulon
Try: Coulon
Con: Garbisi
Yellow card: Rob du Preez (Sale Sharks, 79)
Teams
Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Robert du Preez, 12 Rekeiti Maasi-White, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 George Ford, 9 Raffi Quirke, 8 Dan du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (c), 6 Tom Curry, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Jean-Luc du Preez, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Bevan Rodd
Replacements: 16 Ethan Caine, 17 Si McIntyre, 18 Willgriff John, 19 Ben Bamber, 20 Ernst van Rhyn, 21 Nye Thomas, 22 Sam Bedlow, 23 Arron Reed
Toulon: 15 Rayan Rebbadj, 14 Jiuta Wainiqolo, 13 Antoine Frisch, 12 Jérémy Sinzelle, 11 Gabin Villiere, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Ben White, 8 Selevasio Tolofua, 7 Jules Coulon, 6 Lewis Ludlam, 5 Swan Rebbadj, 4 Matthias Halagahu (c), 3 Emerick Setiano, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros
Replacements: 16 Mickael Ivaldi, 17 Dany Priso, 18 Davit Mchedlidze, 19 David Ribbans, 20 Yannick Youyoutte, 21 Esteban Abadie, 22 Baptiste Serin, 23 Paolo Garbisi
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi
Assistant referees: Franco Rosella, Alex Frasson
TMO: Stefano Roscini
Source: @SaleSharksRugby
