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Sale boss Alex Sanderson was left to rue missed opportunities and called for more ruthlessness after seeing his side knocked out of the Investec Champions Cup following an impressive display by holders La Rochelle.
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The two-time reigning champions secured their place in the last 16 while consigning Sale to the Challenge Cup with a 37-24 win at the AJ Bell Stadium.
Sale trailed 30-0 after 50 minutes but staged a spirited second-half rally which resulted in tries for Tom Roebuck, Sam Dugdale, Telusa Veainu and Agustin Creevy.
But that proved to be too little too late for the Sharks, with director of rugby Sanderson admitting they need to do better in key moments.
He said: “I’m very proud of the effort, but we missed a few opportunities out there which could have made a huge difference.
“There were massive momentum swings in that game, but ultimately we weren’t good enough as you need to be more clinical against the top teams.
“They have statistically the lowest time in play, on average 31 minutes, so we wanted to move the ball and play faster than them, but they did move the ball better than us.
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“At the start of the season, our attack was behind others in terms of performance, but I think we are now up to scratch in that area so that’s encouraging.”
La Rochelle had looked in danger of seeing their title defence come to an early end after losing their first two group matches, but they stepped up when it mattered to remain on track for a hat-trick of crowns.
Jack Nowell was a second-half replacement for La Rochelle against Sale and the former Exeter and England star, playing his first season at the club, is thrilled with life at the French side.
Attack 
243
Passes
115
169
Ball Carries
86
360m
Post Contact Metres
248m
7
Line Breaks
6
He said: “I’m absolutely loving it, it’s an unbelievable place to be and it’s an unbelievable team.
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“With many of the boys at the World Cup, it was a slow start to the season and it took some time to bed the boys back in.
“We fronted up last week against Leicester last week and again here today.”
“Playing at home in our stadium is fantastic, but we’ve put ourselves in a position where we are going to be on the road in this competition, but we are good enough to win away.
La Rochelle’s director of rugby Ronan O’Gara added: “It was a strange game and we are a serious team when we get our moments right, but we need to put it all together.
“The team is all about character. Boys like Will Skelton and Uini Atonio are not fussed about training, but they certainly show their capabilities on match day.”
La Rochelle captain Gregory Alldritt, who was named player of the match, said: “We are pleased to get through to the next stage of the competition. The tournament means a lot to us so we’ll keep trying to the last minute to make it a hat-trick of successes.
“We showed we can play anyone anywhere so playing away is not a huge problem.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
43 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
2 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
43 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
43 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
2 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
6 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
6 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to comments