European Cup Pool Three/Sale Sharks - 12 Stade Francais - 6:There are days when the European Cup appears to have been devised by the Marquis de Sade. Given Sale's savage injury list it was an extraordinary achievement to beat France's pre-eminent club side yesterday, but any joy at the final whistle was short-lived. Even if they win both their remaining Pool Three games with a try bonus point, any chance of England's champions reaching the last eight is already over bar the shouting.
While Sale's director of rugby, Philippe Saint-Andre, is not conceding the inevitable, he knows the game is up. If, or rather when, Stade devour the Italian minnows of Calvisano at home next month, it will mean Sale cannot finish ahead of their rivals in the pool.
Any possibility of sneaking into the knock-out phase by claiming one of the two best runners-up slots is also set to be scuppered by a relative lack of tries. A bonus-point win was an absolute necessity for Saint-Andre's men here. In the event, they never looked like crossing the whitewash once, let alone four times.
No wonder the director looked like someone who had just picked up a €50 note in the street only to discover it belonged to his wife.
"I asked my players never to give up . . . we will fight until the last round," he muttered.
At least Saint-Andre and co can console themselves that they defeated a virtually full-strength Stade side without at least half a dozen of their most influential players. They blunted the visitors in most departments but were unable to wield the rapier.
The upshot was a game to satisfy connoisseurs of brutal intensity rather than musketeering brilliance, a contrast to events in Paris a week earlier.
There was another storming effort by Sale number eight Sebastien Chabal, Cheshire's resident French powerhouse. Time and again he breached tackles and stormed upfield, leaving even Stade's biggest men sprawled in his wake.
With Chris Jones, Magnus Lund and Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe also playing like men possessed, the Sharks had even carved out a 12-0 lead by the 23rd minute, thanks to three well struck Lee Thomas penalties and a Chris Bell drop-goal.
Stade's Lionel Beauxis kicked a penalty four minutes later, but as Sale hammered away around the fringes and the rain started to fall there was a fleeting possibility of the Parisians being routed.
"We knew," said Jason Robinson later, "that they wouldn't like it cold and wet."
Those conditions, though, also made it harder for Sale to achieve a miracle. They saw precious little of the ball early in the second half and, with injured players increasingly littering the turf, the contest became more a question of whether Stade could depart with a bonus point by restricting the losing margin to seven points or less.
Sale, realising their own aspirations hung in the balance, finally cracked in the third minute of injury time when David Skrela landed a penalty from over 40 metres. Two attempted Thomas drop-goals fell wide.
Guardian Service
SALE SHARKS: Robinson (capt); Foden, Mayor, Bell, Ripol; Thomas, Wigglesworth; Roberts (Turner, 51), Titterell, Stewart (Faure, 51); Schofield (J Fernandez Lobbe, 62), I Fernandez Lobbe (Bonner Evans, 78); Jones, Lund, Chabal.
STADE FRANÇAIS: Hernandez; Saubade, Messina, Mirco Bergamasco, Corleto; Beauxis (Skrela, 56), Fillol (Pichot, 56); Marconnet (Roncero, 51), Blin (Kayser, 66), De Villiers (Marconnet, 77); Auradou (capt), James (Marchois, 70); Mauro Bergamasco (Burban, h-t), Rabadan, Parisse.
Referee: N Owens (Wales).
