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Alex Sanderson reflected on a “nerve-wracking” night after his Sale Sharks team reached the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals for a second successive season.
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Sale overcame wing Arron Reed’s first-half red card to beat Bristol 35-29 in a last-16 second-leg thriller.
It gave Sale a 44-39 aggregate success and means they will play Racing 92 or Stade Francais in Paris next month.
Reed was sent off for a shoulder-led challenge to the head of his opposite number Luke Morahan six minutes before the break, and Sale played part of the second half with 13 men following prop Nick Schonert’s sin-binning.
But the Sharks prevailed, and rugby director Sanderson said: “I did guarantee a better performance than last week, and I think we had it from both sides.
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“It was a pleasure to be part of, as nerve-wracking as it was.
“The bench had a real impact and we knew we had to maintain the dominance of the scrum and the maul, which we did.
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“To lose an extra man against a side like Bristol with (Charles) Piutau and (Semi) Radradra, we were always going to chase shadows for a while so getting back to 14 men felt like a win.
“There was a lot of effort, a bit of tactics and mostly heart.
“We play at our best with our backs against the wall and the only space is to fight. We can go anywhere and win.”
On the red card, Sanderson added: “Arron is not a dirty player by any stretch. He has worked hard on his defence.
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“He is properly gutted, and we will pull him and pull him tight. I don’t think we will ever see that off him again.
“It was one of those things, mistimed, and Morahan came in off his right, but there is no shame on Arron.”
Bristol scored 14 points while Sale were two players down as they tried to erase a 24-3 deficit, which they eventually managed in a rollercoaster encounter before the Sharks closed out the game magnificently.
Tries from lock Lood de Jager, hooker Akker van der Merwe and fit-again wing Tom Roebuck rocked Bristol as Sale surged clear.
The Bears hit back with tries from Morahan, replacement hooker Harry Thacker and captain Joe Joyce, while Sheedy booted a penalty and three conversions.
But Sale fly-half Robert du Preez finished with three conversions and three penalties as he landed decisive 63rd- and 73rd-minute strikes before Jono Ross’ clinching try, as Morahan’s late second score proved in vain.
Bristol’s season is now effectively over, as they languish 10th in the Gallagher Premiership with no chance of making the play-offs and trailing badly in the European Cup qualification race for next term.
Bristol rugby director Pat Lam said: “Well done to Sale and Alex – fully deserved.
“In the first half, they did all the play, and we talked about it at half-time. We gave them a lead, and then gave them another lead, and we didn’t manage the last 12 minutes of the game at all well.
“It’s probably like our season. We are fighting, but we are fighting to get the game back after some simple things not done well.
“For us to go to the next level, these are things we have got to sort, and we will.
“To get ahead (on aggregate) and not manage it well at the end, we have only got ourselves to blame.
“At 24-24 we felt we had the momentum, but we gave away some silly penalties. We got one try back, then we turned the ball over and they shut the game down.
“It pretty much sums up our season – a lot of good stuff, but some simple things that were costly.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Lets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
10 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
10 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
34 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
34 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to comments