They have failed to win in their last eight matches in the competition – losing their last seven and drawing one – and have conceded a sizeable average of 34 points per game across those defeats.  

The Pool B match kicks off at 13:00 (UK & Irish time) and can be watched on BT Sport, beIN Sports, and Sky Italia. 

Other key facts: 

• Ospreys and Sale have met twice before in the European Cup, the Welsh side winning both previous clashes in the 2006/07 pool stage. 
• Sale have won just one of their last eight European Cup games – but that was also in Wales, when they beat Scarlets 57-14 in April this year, their second biggest-ever win in the competition (67-11 v Calvisano, 2006). 
• Sale made 41 clean breaks in the Heineken Champions Cup last season, more than any other side, with 17 different players making at least one break for them over the course of the campaign.  
• Ospreys averaged 8.7 turnovers won per game in the Challenge Cup last season, more than any other side. Morgan Morris and George North both contributed a team high of four turnovers each. 

9️⃣ of this season’s contenders have lifted the #HeinekenChampionsCup 🏆

Let the race to Marseille begin… pic.twitter.com/vHj66yZ4xe

— Heineken Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) December 9, 2021

Key quotes: 

Rhys Webb (Ospreys scrum-half): It’s a new competition now, back in the Heineken [Champions] Cup, somewhere where Ospreys deserve to be. We’re excited [to be playing] against a top, top side with Sale. We’re just looking forward to the challenge. 

Alex Sanderson (Sale Sharks director of rugby): “It’s a really exciting one, to frame it (the Heineken Champions Cup) as probably the world’s best club rugby competition. It’s got the best teams in it, so by association you have to include yourself as that.”