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Sale Sharks 17 - 18 Cardiff Blues
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Match Details
Half-Time: 11 - 10
Att: 7,485
Referee:
Venue: Edgeley Park
Date: Sat 4th Oct 2008
Quick Stats
Tries: 3
Conversion: 1
Penalties: 6
Drop Goals: 0
1 0
Previous Meeting
Sharks17 - 18Blues
Blues32 - 15Sharks
Blues22 - 7Sharks
Sharks26 - 24Blues
Narrow Win for Blues over Sale
Richard Mustoe was the hero as his last-gasp try handed Cardiff Blues a hard-fought EDF Energy Cup triumph over Sale Sharks.
Sale Sharks 17-18 Cardiff Blues

Richard Mustoe was the hero as his last-gasp try handed Cardiff Blues a hard-fought EDF Energy Cup triumph over Sale Sharks. 

Replacement wing Mustoe crashed over in the 80th minute from Jamie Roberts’ pass to seal an unlikely win at Edgeley Park. 

Nick MacLeod almost came back to haunt his former side as he booted Sale into a 17-13 lead until Mustoe pounced.
MacLeod left the Blues in the summer but scored 12 points in a composed display against his old pals. 

Rudi Keil’s first-half try had put the Guinness Premiership outfit in a commanding position before Welshman MacLeod added two further penalties after the interval. 

Leigh Halfpenny touched down for the Blues in the first half but Ceri Sweeney’s penalty kept the visitors in touch before the dramatic finish. 

And another bright spot saw the return of Martyn Williams from an ankle ligament injury ahead of the Blues Heineken Cup opener against Calvisano next Saturday. 

Williams emerged unscathed throughout a scrappy 80 minutes and will have been pleased watching Wales coach Warren Gatland. 

After a sluggish start, the Blues hit back though Halfpenny’s try in the 12th minute. Scrum-half Richie Rees made the crucial break and his clever reverse pass allowed Halfpenny to ease under the posts.
 
But Sale soon regained their advantage three minutes later with a wonderful try of their own. 

The hosts capitalised on quick turnover ball and after a flowing move through the backs, South African Rudi Keil crashed over in the left corner. 

McLeod failed with the conversion and a penalty before Blair did the same on a windy afternoon in Stockport. 

But the Blues full-back found his radar on the half hour to put the Blues back in front. 

MacLeod fired Sale into the lead for the third time before hooker Marc Jones was yellow-carded before the interval for a dangerous tackle. 

It made little difference as the versatile MacLeod slotted home his third penalty in the 44th minute to hand Sale a 14-10 lead. 

MacLeod converted his fourth penalty before Ceri Sweeney took over kicking duties from Blair to cut Sale’s lead to four points with a close-range penalty before Mustoe clinched the win.

Scorers:

Sale Sharks
Try: Keil
Con
Pens: MacLeod (4)

Cardiff Blues
Tries: Halfpenny, Mustoe
Con: Blair
Pens: Blair, Sweeney

Referee: Tim Hayes (WRU)
Attendance: 7,485
LINEUPS SCORING SUMMARY TIMELINE
Sale SharksCardiff Blues
SubsScoringNameNo.NameScoringSubs

4P
Nick Macleod 15 Ben Blair 1C 1P

Replacement off

Selorm Kuadey 14 Leigh Halfpenny 1T
Replacement off

1T
Rudi Keil 13 Jamie Robinson
Replacement off
Replacement off

Andy Tuilagi 12 Jamie Roberts



Oriol Ripol Fortuny 11 Gareth Thomas



Richard Wigglesworth 10 Ceri Sweeney 1P
Replacement off


Chris Leck 9 Richie Rees



Lionel Faure 1 John Yapp

Yellow card

Marc Jones 2 T.Rhys Thomas
Replacement off
Replacement off

Martin Halsall 3 Taufa'ao Filise
Replacement off
Replacement off

Chris Jones 4 Bradley Davies
Replacement off


Brent Cockbain 5 Paul Tito

Replacement off

Jason White 6 Andy Powell
Replacement off
Replacement off

David Tait 7 Martyn Williams



Carl Fearns 8 Mark Lewis

Replacements
Replacements


Rob O'Donnell 16 Gary Powell
Replacement on
Replacement on

Ross Davies 17 Gareth Williams
Replacement on
Replacement on

James Gaskell 18 Deiniol Jones
Replacement on
Replacement on

Alex Shaw 19 Robin Sowden-Taylor
Replacement on
Replacement on

Nick Royle 20 Richard Mustoe 1T
Replacement on
Replacement on

Jonny Kennedy 21 Nick Robinson
Replacement on


Tom Holmes 22 Tom Shanklin
Replacement on
Penalty Tries
0
0

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