Glasgow Warriors complete stunning fightback at Sale Sharks to start Investec Champions Cup in style
Kyle Steyn for Glasgow Warriors against Sale Sharks.
Glasgow Warriors recovered from 14-0 down to win 26-21 at Sale Sharks in a bonus-point success that gets their Investec Champions Cup campaign off to a perfect start.
Tries from hooker Gregor Hiddleston, flanker Rory Darge, wing Kyle Steyn and centre Stafford McDowall saw the Warriors launch a stunning fightback at CorpAcq Stadium.
Ernst van Rhyn, Ollie Davies and Marius Louw were Sale‘s try offerings as they nabbed a losing bonus-point as consolation but will be hugely disappointed with this result.
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Sale were looking to bounce back from a nightmare second-half performance against Exeter Chiefs in the PREM, and they certainly got out of the blocks firing on Friday.
With just two minutes on the clock, Van Rhyn powered his way over the whitewash from close range and with Rob du Preez’s conversion, the home side had a 7-0 buffer.
The advantage was doubled on the 20-minute mark. Scotland international Arron Reed slipped the net before offloading back inside to Investec Champions Cup debutant Davies, who raced over for a special try just three minutes after coming on as a replacement that was also converted by Du Preez.
Glasgow did finally manage to find a foothold in the game on the half-hour mark when a fearsome maul trotted over the line and Hiddlestone was the man in possession.
Then just before half-time, Darge fought his way to the whitewash after a series of carries from the Warriors and with the conversion, suddenly it was a two-point ball game.
Things would get even better for Glasgow two minutes into the second half when Steyn pierced through some weak defence to put his side 19-14 up with the conversion.
Sale were now falling off tackles and McDowall made them pay as he slipped through the Sharks’ rearguard to pick up Glasgow’s bonus-point try as they turned the screw.
It was now 26-14 on 55 minutes as Sale’s demise from that positive start was concerning to say the least, with the Warriors certainly enjoying their night in the north-west.
Fortunately for the Sale supporters, there was something to cheer shortly afterwards as Louw barged his way over 10 minutes later to reduce the margin to just five points.
But Glasgow would manage to see out the game and seal a maximum haul from the opening pool clash, setting them up nicely for next week’s home match with Toulouse.
The teams
Sale Sharks: 15 Arron Reed, 14 Tom O’Flaherty, 13 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Alex Wills, 10 Rob du Preez, 9 Raffi Quirke, 8 Tom Curry, 7 Ernst van Rhyn (c), 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 5 Ben Bamber, 4 Tom Burrow, 3 WillGriff John, 2 Nathan Jibulu, 1 Si McIntyre
Replacements: 16 Ethan Caine, 17 Tumy Onasanya, 18 James Harper, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Ben Curry, 21 Gus Warr, 22 Ollie Davies, 23 Gurshwin Wehr
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Josh McKay, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Stafford McDowall, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Ollie Smith, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 George Horne, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Max Williamson, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Gregor Hiddleston, 1 Nathan McBeth
Replacements: 16 Seb Stephen, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Sam Talakai, 19 Alex Samuel, 20 Gregor Brown, 21 Ally Miller, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Dan Lancaster
Referee: Pierre Brousset (Fra)
Assistant Referees: Vincent Blasco Baque (Fra), Julien Caulier (Fra)
TMO: Tual Trainini (Fra)