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Wins for Sale and Castres get Champions Cup round two under way
By PA
Sale reignited their Investec Champions Cup campaign as they cruised to a 29-7 win over Racing 92 at Salford Community Stadium. The hosts had started the night bottom of Pool Four after a loss at Glasgow Warriors in the opening round but an opening try from Jean-Luc du Preez set the tone for a dominant display.
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Tom Roebuck crossed in the corner to put the hosts 12 points clear but Racing, who had beaten Harlequins in the opening round, responded when Guram Gogichashvili barged over to cut Sale’s lead to five at the break.
Racing’s bid to build on that breakthrough was ended shortly after the restart when Roebuck reacted to a poor kick to send Joe Carpenter scampering under the posts to restore the home side’s 12-point advantage.
Ben Curry crossed for Sale’s fourth try after Racing’s Maxime Baudonne was sent to the sin bin, and Sale’s win could have been more emphatic had Rob du Preez – who kicked three conversions and a penalty – not had a late effort ruled out for a knock-on.
Munster fell to a 16-14 defeat to Castres in France as a late penalty from Louis le Brun helped the hosts get the better of a physical and error-strewn Pool Three clash. Craig Casey and Peter O’Mahony both went off injured on a night to forget for the visitors, who fell behind to early tries from Abraham Papalii and Quentin Walcker.
A superb solo try from John Hodnett kept Munster in touch, taking them to the interval only three points in arrears at 10-7, and the 68th minute sin-binning of Castres prop Nicolas Corato gave the visitors renewed hope.
As the errors kept coming from both sides, a home infringement gave Hodnett the chance to power over for his second try and Jack Crowley’s second conversion gave the visitors an unlikely lead.
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It wasn’t enough for Ian Costello’s side, though, as le Brun’s kick gave Castres back the advantage and they saw the game out to take the win.
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