Matchday Live

A top class second half display helped Sale claim a bonus point win against Toulon and secure qualification for the Champions Cup knockouts.

A bonus point win was the minimum requirement for qualification, and five second half achieved just that, a round of 16 tie against reigning champions Toulouse the reward.

Despite the daunting prospect awaiting in the next round, Alex Sanderson has made his intentions to go far in this competition clear, so nerves were high as the clock hit 40 without any score.

However, a superb Tom Roebuck score just before the whistle provided the necessary momentum for a rampant second half, where Ben Curry, Bevan Rodd, Tom O’Flahery and Roebuck scored again.

Were it not for last week’s lingering frustrations, where Sale were fatally wasteful in the first half vs the Stormers, Roebuck’s opener would have been more than worth the wait. That frustration appeared to permeate into the Sharks squad, with chances snatched at through the half where patience has prevailed in previous weeks.

Luke Cowan-Dickie and Asher Opoku-Fordjour were both held up either side of difficult chances that weren’t taken on Roebuck’s wing, Rob du Preez – on his 150th appearance for the club – threatening to link up with him to no avail.

Crucially, Roebuck was able to touch down in the last act of the half, profiting from a wonderfully worked attack from deep after Ben Curry stepped through in his own half, before a string of offloads – Quirke’s a highlight in particular – saw Bevan Rodd burst into the Toulon 22. The ball was recycled quickly and Tom O’Flaherty isolated the 2-on-1 out wide to release Roebuck with a tidy pass for the score.

It was much the same for the first ten minutes of the second half as Alex Sanderson’s men saw chances go begging, but a moment of magic from Ben Curry bucked the trend in memorable fashion.

Curry’s England claims are rising to deafening levels and the decibel metre nearly reached breaking point when he cut through on a sumptuous line in the midfield before collecting his own grubber to score.

That try was the straw that broke the camel’s back and it was Bevan Rodd who picked up Sale’s third, crashing over from close range to reap the rewards of an excellent display against the Stormers last week.

The bonus point followed soon after, Tom O’Flaherty racing in from half way with a clean pair of heels after Dan du Preez wreaked havoc on a Toulon ruck.

Until the 67th minute there were the signs of another Byron McGuigan shut out, but a well-worked Toulon attack allowed flanker Jules Coulon to score. However, Tom Curry silenced the prospect of a comeback when he held up a threatening Toulon maul, before grubbering through a loose ball to help Roebuck score his second.