Clermont Auvergne 15 Sale 32: Sale can now beat anyone in Europe, says Saint-Andre

The Sale coach Philippe Saint-André was unreservedly upbeat after beating the club he loves and which still loves him, Clermont Auvergne.

"I think we can beat any team in Europe and today we showed this.," he said. "It was a fantastic performance. Sale Sharks are probably better known here than they are in Manchester," he said.

Sale could hardly have hoped for a better start in the Heineken Cup than walking away with not just a win but a bonus point from a ground that has been a graveyard for other illustrious teams' hopes.

As a springboard for their next Heineken Cup encounter, at Edgeley Park next Sunday, against a Munster whose two-point margin at home over Montauban was less than impressive, Sale know a win at the weekend could launch them into the quarter-finals.

There is a lot of water to flow under four more bridges before that, but they should be able to beat Clermont at home, Montauban home and away, leaving just Munster away in January.

If Clermont, for so long a happy home for Saint-André, held the early initiative, the successful test passed by the Sale defence was to be repeated all afternoon. The tackles went in again and again, reducing all the points for the home side to five penalty kicks from the Australian stand-off Brock James.

Where there were opportunities to be turned into points, Sale grabbed most of them with both hands after a pair of penalties, the first from Richard Wigglesworth, the second from man-of-the match Luke McAlister, halted any home team momentum.

When scrum-half Dwayne Peel spotted a defensive gap and darted behind the referee Alan Lewis to put Juan Fernández Lobbe away and David Doherty to score, the crowd knew that all was not going to be as sunny as the weather.

If there was one weakness for Sale it was in the front row, which struggled without Andrew Sheridan but, in defence and attack, the pack deserved medals. There are injury worries as a shoulder-damaged Lee Thomas was replaced after 12 minutes by Rudi Keil, who scored one of the four tries.

Peel had to be replaced early in the second-half, having taken a second knock. That allowed Charlie Hodgson to move into the number 10 spot as Wigglesworth moved up to scrum-half. The rearranged back line hardly missed a beat. Hodgson produced a series of beautifully-weighted kicks to keep Clermont on the back foot and it was McAlister and a rejuvenated Mark Cueto who completed the tally of tries.

Clermont Auvergne: Penalties James (5). Sale: Tries Doherty, McAlister, Keil, Cueto; Conversions McAlister (3); Penalties Wigglesworth, McAlister.

Clermont Auvergne: A Floch, N Nalaga, B Baby (P-M Garcia, 54), S Bai (A Mignardi, 75), J Malzieu, B James, P Mignoni, L Emmanuelli (T Domingo, 62), M Ledesma (M Lopuzone, 62), D Zirakashvili (Emmanuelli, 72), J Pierre, T Privat (C Samson, 69), J Bonnaire, A Audebert, E Vermeulen (capt).

Sale: R Lamont, M Cueto (rep C Bell, 78), L McAlister, L Thomas (R Keil, 12), D Doherty, R Wigglesworth, D Peel (C Hodgson, 45), L Faure (Roberts, 72), N Briggs (M Jones, 78), E Roberts (S Turner, 40), C Jones (J White, 69), K Ormsby, J Fernandez-Lobbe (capt), L Abraham, S Chabal (D Scholfield, 74).

Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland).

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