Biarritz demonstrated a resolute defence to break their away duck in this
season's Heineken Cup and set up a winner-takes-all Pool Three clash with
Leinster in Aguilera on Saturday.
A second successive home defeat ended Sale's outside hopes of a place in the
knock-out stages and their prospects of domestic success took a further dent
with the loss of scrum-half Bryan Redpath with a suspected dislocated shoulder.
The former Scotland skipper joined the Sharks' mounting injury list three
minutes before half-time after being hurt in a tackle during his side's best
attacking spell of the match.
Coach Jim Mallinder had pledged his side would go for broke in their bid to
claim the five-point win that would have kept alive their quarter-final hopes
but he had not counted on an unrelenting defensive effort from the Frenchmen.
Sale were dominant in the line-out, largely through the towering presence of
Chris Jones, and enjoyed the lion's share of possession but, without the
playmaking skills of injured fly-half Charlie Hodgson, they lacked invention in
attack against a watertight defence.
Even when they were down to 14 men following the 18th-minute sin-binning of
prop Petru Balan for a professional foul, Biarritz rarely looked like conceding
a try.
The visitors, urged on by their colourful band of fans, made the perfect start
with a third-minute try from Nicolas Brusque.
Fly-half Julien Peyrelongue sliced through the Sharks defence with consummate
ease from Ovidiu Tonita's superb short pass and, with support either side of
Jason Robinson, gave the French full-back a clear run to the line.
Scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili, whose missed conversion cost his side victory at
Cardiff, added the goal but was then wide with a penalty after Sale were guilty
of pulling down a maul.
The travelling fans had to wait another 44 minutes for their second try, when
prop Denis Avril was driven over from a five-metre scrum after skipper Thomas
Lievremont had been held up on his back, but they were generally in control and
Peyrelongue completed their scoring with a 73rd-minute drop goal.
Sale's best chance came just before the interval when fly-half Jos Baxendell
broke clear from a scrum only to watch the supporting Graeme Bond drop his pass
with the line beckoning.
Teams:
Sale: Robinson, Mayor, van Straaten, Bond, Hanley, Baxendell,
Redpath, Yates, Cairns, Turner, Fullarton, Schofield, White,
Sanderson, C. Jones.
Replacements: Going for van Straaten (57),
Wigglesworth for Redpath (38), Roddam. for Cairns (77),
Stewart for Turner (55), Day for Fullarton (51),
Lund for Schofield (48).
Not Used: Hoyle.
Biarritz: Brusque, Vidave., Stcherbina, Isaac, Marlu,
Peyrelongue, Yachvili, Balan, Gonzales, Avril, Manent,
Couzinet, Betsen, Tonita, T. Lievremont.
Replacements: Gaitan for Stcherbina (77),
Bernat-Salles for Isaac (77), Fitzgerald for Balan (67),
Puleoto for Couzinet (70), Chouchan for Tonita (50).
Not Used: Minassian, Mazas.
Sin Bin: Balan (17).
Tries: Brusque, Avril.
Cons: Yachvili.
Drop Goals: Peyrelongue.
Att: 6,421
Ref: A Roland (IRFU).
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