Wins for Sale and Castres get Champions Cup round two under way
Sale reignited their Investec Champions Cup campaign as they cruised to a 29-7 win over Racing 92 at Salford Community Stadium. The hosts had started the night bottom of Pool Four after a loss at Glasgow Warriors in the opening round but an opening try from Jean-Luc du Preez set the tone for a dominant display.
Tom Roebuck crossed in the corner to put the hosts 12 points clear but Racing, who had beaten Harlequins in the opening round, responded when Guram Gogichashvili barged over to cut Sale’s lead to five at the break.
Racing’s bid to build on that breakthrough was ended shortly after the restart when Roebuck reacted to a poor kick to send Joe Carpenter scampering under the posts to restore the home side’s 12-point advantage.
Ben Curry crossed for Sale’s fourth try after Racing’s Maxime Baudonne was sent to the sin bin, and Sale’s win could have been more emphatic had Rob du Preez – who kicked three conversions and a penalty – not had a late effort ruled out for a knock-on.
Munster fell to a 16-14 defeat to Castres in France as a late penalty from Louis le Brun helped the hosts get the better of a physical and error-strewn Pool Three clash. Craig Casey and Peter O’Mahony both went off injured on a night to forget for the visitors, who fell behind to early tries from Abraham Papalii and Quentin Walcker.
A superb solo try from John Hodnett kept Munster in touch, taking them to the interval only three points in arrears at 10-7, and the 68th minute sin-binning of Castres prop Nicolas Corato gave the visitors renewed hope.
As the errors kept coming from both sides, a home infringement gave Hodnett the chance to power over for his second try and Jack Crowley’s second conversion gave the visitors an unlikely lead.
It wasn't enough for Ian Costello’s side, though, as le Brun’s kick gave Castres back the advantage and they saw the game out to take the win.
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Yes, sounds like it. On the upside a disastrous 6N, while painful, could result in a change of coach. All the RFU need to do to afford that cost is slightly tone down their Exec bonuses. Which are meant to be performance linked in any case...
Go to commentsHavilli lost his 2nd 5 position to Jordie Barrett some time ago and was clearly out of form as he returned from injury last year. I don’t think the door should be slammed on him at all but he needs to show the sort of form that actually challenges for a starting spot rather than just be a ‘utility back’ option for the bench.
His captaincy position at the Crusaders will raise his profile but what may be unanimously worthwhile for the Crusaders doesn’t necessarily hold true for the All Blacks too. The All Backs do need to find more depth of talent in the midfield however, so it will be worthwhile he can make a case for both himself and also other players around him.
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