Leinster Tough It Out In Sale

An understrength Leinster Lions showed they have as much courage and tenacity as any other side when they carved out a richly deserved 23-16 win over Sale in Edgeley Park.

The visitors, still smarting from the defeat in Lansdowne Road found themselves ten points down after Charlie Hodgson converted Steve Hanley’s opening quarter. That score came when Shane Horgan had his kick-through blocked but Hanley appeared to be well offside before he raced clear.

Leinster held their composure and had a try in each half from John McWeeney and Brendan Burke and withstood a late bout of Sale pressure to claim the points that sends them to the top of Pool 3.

Former South Africa coach Nick Mallett’s
hopes of
capturing the European Cup with French champions Stade Francais
received a
welcome boost as they dismantled an ill-disciplined
Welsh side
Gwent Dragons 37-0.

Stade avenged their 20-12 defeat in Wales last weekend with an
impressive
and clinical performance and captured a bonus point for scoring five
tries as
Argentine fullback Ignacio Corleto, Pierre Rabadan, captain Mathieu
Blin with
two and an on-fire Christophe Dominici touched down.
The victory took them top of the Pool One standings on points
difference
from two-time champions Leicester, who beat Stade in the 2001 final
and
destroyed Ulster in their clash on Saturday.

However the French side, nicknamed the ‘aristocravats’, still need
to beat
Ulster on January 24th and then at Leicester to ensure their progress
to the
last eight.

Blin rounded off a dominant performance against a Gwent side which
received
three yellow cards by touching down in the corner in time added on.
Dominici ensured that Stade secured what could be a crucial bonus
point
when he finished off another sparkling move which involved several
players
from deep in their half.

Corleto started it off running deep into Welsh territory before
offloading
it and when Diego Dominguez was brought to ground the ball came out
to Thomas
Lombard, whose long pass found Dominici and he ran in to score.

Stade had a couple more chances to add to the try tally especially
after
Gwent were handed their second yellow card of the match but failed to
thanks
to some sterling Welsh defending.

However Blin made them pay once Adam Black earned their third
yellow card
with under 10 minutes remaining.

His effort was nothing as spectacular as Corleto’s stunning
opening try.
It stemmed from a wonderful passing movement across the pitch, the
Argentine got the break he needed as Dominici’s lightning quick flick
on
released him and he outsprinted the covering defence to touch down
under the
posts.

Jason Forster’s yellow card in the 32nd minute for a high tackle
had also
been punished by the French side.
A minute later Rabadan had scored his second try of the campaign
as the
23-year-old picked up at the back of the scrum and went over
unopposed to
touch down.

Blin added a third shortly before the break after Stade won a
lineout and
the scrum bundled him over.