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.

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.