Saint-André and his martyrs await test of character

Sale left depleted for battle with galacticos of Biarritz

It may have been apt for Sale to spend the week harbouring a sense of injustice in a city named after a Christian martyr. But the insult of what they claim to be an unfair ban on their French No 8, Sébastien Chabal, added to the injury allegedly suffered by the loosehead prop Andrew Sheridan while away with England, will be of little use to them against Biarritz in San Sebastian this afternoon.

"We have won the European Shield twice," says Sale's coach, Philippe Saint-André, "but this is a huge challenge for us, playing the favourites for the competition. I'm looking forward to seeing how we react."

Sun, sea and sans Sébastien has made for an unusual preamble to the last of the Heineken Cup quarter-finals, between the respective league leaders from England and France in northern Spain. Chabal has been on hand in practice as a useful defensive nuisance but has repented mostly at leisure the five-week suspension handed down by the Rugby Football Union.

The bearded wanderer was sent off at Wasps in the Premiership for stamping on Lawrence Dallaglio - that was two weeks' worth - and got three more weeks for spitting at Fraser Waters during his march from the field. The ban is up tomorrow.

"I'm sorry, but if Dallaglio did the same, he'd have had a yellow card," said Saint-André. "Because it was Chabal, he had a red card. When you watch it on the video he didn't deserve it. It was exactly the same last year; he didn't do anything and he got two weeks [for a stamp against Bath]. Thanks to England, one of our key players will be qualified to play the day after this game."

Then there is Sheridan, suffering a pain in the neck in every sense with a prolapsed disc that, Sale claim, occurred in England training before the gargantuan front-rower was cleared to play 70 minutes of the Six Nations match against Ireland a fortnight ago. The RFU deny any such misdiagnosis took place. Saint-André can only select Ben Coutts and Chris Jones, and be thankful that Mark Cueto and Jason Robinson are fit for duty after picking up knocks in last week's Premiership win at London Irish.

"I used to play against Biarritz when they had Serge Blanco but not much else," said Saint-André. "Now they may be the richest club in Europe. Patrice Lagisquet has coached them since 1997, he's a friend and a fantastic coach. He's got a squad of 44 full-time players and maybe 28 internationals." For this reason, and for their failure to reach a European final, Biarritz have been dubbed rugby's galacticos by their deadly local rivals, Bayonne.

"They are five points clear at the top of the French table," said Saint-André. "Though it's not as interesting as in England because you have three teams - Biarritz, Toulouse and Stade Français - who are way in front of everyone else. It's the first time Sale have played one of these teams. We've had no problems against French teams from fifth place downwards, but this is different."

Different preparation, too: a smart hotel overlooking the town and training next door to the 32,000-capacity Estadio Anoeta. There will be 1,000 fans from North-west England and 31,000 Basques. A smaller but similarly hostile crowd at Limerick saw Sale submit meekly to Munster in their final pool match in January, tossing away top seeding and a home quarter-final.

Saint-André insists it was both an aberration and a lesson. "I hope we grew up a little bit after that game," he said. "Biarritz, Munster, Toulouse, Leicester - these teams have got used to these big matches." Equally, he knows Biarritz faltered against Toulouse and - most painfully when they had been ahead - Stade Français in the Heineken semi-finals of 2004 and 2005.

"Philippe always says the French sides are mad for the first 20 minutes, and if you can withstand that you've got a good chance," said Steve Hanley, the wing who has been on standby for Cueto and Robinson while they took restorative dips in the Bay of Biscay. "I think he likes taking on French opposition because it shows his know-how."

Analysis suggests that counter-attack is the favourite Biarritz tactic. They have the peerless Serge Betsen to win the breakdown and two wrecking-ball wings in Jean-Baptiste Gobelet and Sereli Bobo, no less dangerous for being slightly less "galactic" than Betsen and the quartet of Six Nations winners, Dimitri Yachvili, Damien Traille, Jérôme Thion and Thomas Lièvremont.

The prize at stake for Sale is a semi-final at the City of Manchester Stadium. Even if they fail, there has been good groundwork for the remainder of the Premiership campaign. "The weather has been good here compared with Manchester," said Saint-André. "This is the last sprint to the line in our season."