14 man Sale Sharks beat Bristol Bears in a thriller

14 man Sale Sharks beat Bristol Bears in a thriller

Sale Sharks secure passage to the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup after beating the Bristol Bears 29-35 in the second leg of the round of 16.

Alex Sanderson's charges proceed to the final eight for the third time in the Club's history, claiming a 39-44 aggregate win over Pat Lam's side.

Sale will have to wait until the final game of the week to know who their opponents will be in the quarters as Racing 92 and Stade Francais face off with Racing leading 22-9 on aggregate ahead of the second leg. If Racing proceed, Sale will travel to France but Stade Francais overturn the deficit, Sale will host the quarter-final. 

After a lacklustre game last weekend, Bristol Bears and Sale Sharks produced a thrilling match on Saturday. The Bears headed into Saturday's second leg after securing a 9-10 victory over the Sale Sharks at the AJ Bell Stadium.

The two sides attacked relentlessly in the opening quarter of the match, with the hosts coming closest to scoring the first points of the encounter. However, their score was chalked off for a knock-on. However, Faf de Klerk was judged to have made the tackle early, and the scrum-half was yellow carded. 


Bristol opted to get points on the board as Sheedy knocked over the three points. Sale quickly went to work with their reply, and it took just three minutes as Rob du Preez levelled things at 3 points apiece.

The Sale Sharks' pack flexed its muscles as Lood de Jager forced his way over the line from a driving maul, and du Preez added the extras to edge Sale back in front after 32 minutes.


Just two minutes later, Sale Sharks were reduced to 14 men for the rest of the match after Aaron Reed was shown a straight red card for a high tackle on Bristol Bears' outside back Luke Morahan. 




Sheedy missed the shot at goal to reduce Sale Sharks' lead, and it would prove to be costly as Bristol would concede before the break after yet another strong drive from the Sale pack. This time, Akker van der Merwe added his name to the scoresheet as he broke through the Bristol defence to score. The visitors led 3-24 at halftime.

A rapid start to the second half saw Tom Roebuck cross the whitewash seconds after the whistle as Manu Tuilagi regathered Robert du Preez's restart and got the offload away to Jean-Luc du Preez. Quick hands from du Preez sent Roebuck over in the corner.




Sale's discipline hurt them again as Nick Schonert was sent for 10 minutes on the sidelines for a high tackle. Bristol immediately made the most of their advantage as Harry Thacker cruised over the line with Luke Morahan following just five minutes later as Bristol cut Sale's lead to 17-24 with 26 minutes to play.




Callum Sheedy levelled the scores after captain Joe Joyce brilliantly spun out of Rohan Janse van Rensburg's attempted tackle to charge over the line. 




Back to 14 men, Sale Sharks edged back ahead via the boot of Robert du Preez before there was yet another yellow card - this time for Bristol Bears - as John Hawkins was sin-binned for a high tackle with 14 minutes left to play.

Du Preez added another three points from the tee in the 72nd minute putting Sale Sharks six points up. The South African flyhalf produced another big moment with his cross-kick going through the hands of Tom Roebuck, but Jono Ross was on hand to finish off the try. Du Preez would miss the extras, but it did give Sale an 11 point lead on the day and a 10 point buffer on aggregate.

Immediate after Sale scored, Andy Uren looked certain to score, but Tommy Taylor produced an excellent cover tackle forcing a knock-on from Uren over the try line. From the resulting goal-line dropout, Bristol Bears attacked and worked the short side with Steven Luatua, sending Luke Morahan charging over in the corner. Sheedy missed the extras from the touchline. 

That final score was in vain as Sale managed to turn the ball over shortly after the restart and held onto possession and their lead to secure the 29-35 victory.

 
 
 
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Standout performers

The battle up front was crucial to Sale Sharks' victory at Ashton Gate, and loosehead prop Bevan Rodd was duly awarded the man of the match award after a stellar outing in the scrums and at the breakdown.

Sale second-rower Cobus Wiese thundered into 18 tackles - a match-high - while his captain Jono Ross made 13 tackles and scored what proved to be the match-winning try. 

Manu Tuilagi enjoyed a fine performance on either side of the ball, gaining 46 running metres, a match-high for Sale, making seven tackles, and creating Tom Roebuck's try. 

Semi Radradra was a game-changing substitution for the Bears, injecting pace and vigour into the backline while Luke Morahan shone on the wing gaining over 100 running metres. 

Harry Randall's service was swift while nailing an excellent 50:22 in the first half. Alapati Leiua had sparks of brilliance in his 100th appearance for his side, while Joe Joyce gave Bristol a glimmer of hope with his try in the second half. 

                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 

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