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Toulon will not want to surrender their impressive unbeaten record in their Pool and will be determined to make sure they record two wins in the back-to-back clashes with Sale Sharks. - 07/12/2012 07:45
Sale Sharks will be hoping they can establish a winning habit after their stunning comeback over the Cardiff Blues on the opening weekend when they travel to face Montpellier in France.
The English outfit had lost all of their previous six games this season in the English Premiership before replacement fly half Danny Cipriani masterminded a 34-33 win against Cardiff Blues.
The Welsh side were 15 points ahead with 20 minutes to go before Sale staged an astonishing comeback.
Sale Sharks' Director of Rugby Bryan Redpath was thrilled with the impact made by his club's replacement fly half Danny Cipriani during the club's 34-33 win against Cardiff Blues and is determined to see his side build on their stunning turnaround.
“We've been on the wrong end of recent results,” said Redpath. “I said to the players at half-time we were staring down the barrel of a gun. We had to go out with the right mindset to win the game.
“It's been a tough six weeks. We've taken a lot of flak, quite rightly so in many ways, but hopefully we can turn the corner. The next two games are huge for us.”
Montpellier will be looking to bounce back after they lost their opening game 37-16 to Toulon, last weekend.
Sale and Montpellier have met four times, with the English side winning two games, losing one and drawing another.
Match Facts
Montpellier have lost just one of their last eight fixtures against English opponents: 13-16 at Bath on 20 November 2011.
Sale have won two of their last three matches against Top 14 opponents.
The two sides have met on four previous occasions with Montpellier’s only win being way back on 14 September 1997.
Sale and Montpellier drew 14-14 on the Sharks’ only previous visit to the Stade Yves du Manoir in January 2008.
Battus sans ménagement en ouverture par Toulon
French outside half Francois Trinh Duc turned on the style in the pouring rain at Stade Yves du Manoir to guide Montpellier to a comfortable win over Sale Sharks.
Two beautiful chip kicks over the Sharks’ defensive line conjured up tries for Timoci Nagusa and Julien Tomas and he led the home charge by bagging their first try. But while the No 10 took the plaudits, it was the Montpellier front five that turned the game in their side’s favour.
They blitzed the Sharks pack and it was their effort in pushing the visiting pack off their own ball 10 minutes after the break that paved the way for the first try. John Beattie simply picked the ball up at his feet at No 8, break to the openside and gave Trinh Duc a clear run to the line 10 metres away.
The Sharks had opened the scoring with the first try of the game after only four minutes. Tom Brady sped out of his 22 up to half-way and then Danny Cipriani kicked cross-field for England wing Mark Cueto to score his first try of the season.
By half-time the boot of Argentinean wing Martin Bustos Moyano had pushed Montpellier into a 12-8 lead, but that Trinh Duc try sparked the home charge.
His first chip kick allowed Nagusa to show off his power and pace to reach the left corner and then Tomas was given a brilliant inside pass to run the length of the 22 to score at the posts.
The only thing that didn’t go right for the home side was they failed to bag a bonus point after scoring three tries in an hour. Instead, the Sharks had the final word with a 74th minute try from replacement back row man Richie Vernon which Rob Miller converted off the right touchline.
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