Sale drop into Challenge Cup as O'Gara's La Rochelle keep title defence alive
Sale dropped into the Challenge Cup after being brushed aside by La Rochelle as the French giants kept alive their bid for hat-trick of Investec Champions Cup titles.
La Rochelle fly-half Antoine Hastoy scored 20 points as the reigning champions, who looked at risk of an early elimination this season after losing their first two matches, sealed their spot in the last 16 with a 37-24 win at the AJ Bell Stadium.
Hastoy was surprisingly omitted from France’s squad for the upcoming Six Nations but he was back on top of his game as Sale were convincingly beaten, the 26-year-old finishing with a try, three penalties and three conversions.
Dillyn Leyds, Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Ulupano Seuteni also crossed for the visitors, with Hugo Reus adding a conversion.
Sale, who trailed 30-0 after 50 minutes, salvaged some pride as they staged a second-half fightback through tries from Tom Roebuck, Sam Dugdale, Telusa Veainu and Agustin Creevy.
Sharks v La Rochelle – Investec Champions Cup – Pool 4 – AJ Bell Stadium” />
But it was still a miserable afternoon for the Sharks, who had rested a number of leading players for last week’s trip to Stormers in anticipation of this shoot-out for the final qualification spot in Pool Four.
They were given a salutary lesson by the holders to finish the group in fifth place with just one win and six points, meaning their European participation will now continue in the Challenge Cup.
The first scoring opportunity actually came from Sale when, in the sixth minute, strong running from Arron Reed and Rob du Preez created an opportunity for Roebuck but the wing lost possession in the process of touching down.
Almost immediately, the home side were made to pay when Du Preez’s kick was charged down for Leyds to scoop up the loose ball and just hold off the cover defence to score.
Hastoy converted and added a penalty to give the French a 10-point lead at the end of the first quarter.
Sale then suffered a further setback when former England lock Jonny Hill was carried off the pitch on a stretcher with a leg injury to be replaced by Tom Ellis.
The Sharks had no answer to the scrum power of their opponents, conceding frequent penalties, but a couple of unforced errors from La Rochelle prevented them from capitalising with a second try.
Instead, they had to rely on the boot of Hastoy for their next scores with two penalties in quick succession giving his side a 16-0 interval advantage.
Two minutes after the restart, the visitors delivered a hammer blow to Sale when they broke from inside their own 22, with Seuteni sending Hastoy on a 45-metre run to the line.
Soon after, scrum-half Kerr-Barlow, scored the visitors’ third try and Sale were 30 points adrift.
La Rochelle then introduced former Exeter and England wing Jack Nowell in place of the impressive Leyds and also replaced a number of prominent players with the game already won.
Unsurprisingly, Sale then enjoyed had their best period of the match and a flowing move presented Roebuck with a walk-in on the overlap.
There was now a major momentum shift in favour of the hosts, with Hastoy yellow-carded for the team’s persistent infringements before Bruce Dulin followed him to the sin bin for a head-high challenge on Reed, who departed for an HIA.
Sale immediately capitalised with a try from Creevy from a line-out drive, but they could get no closer as Seuteni intercepted for a bonus-point try for La Rochelle.
Hastoy and Dulin both returned from the bin, but Sale had the final say with tries from Dugdale and Veainu.
Comments on RugbyPass
“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.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
37 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
1 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
33 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
5 Go to comments