HEINEKEN CUP POOL THREE Sale (0) 0 Biarritz (7) 15 Tries: Brusque, Avril Con: Yachvili Drop: Peyrelongue

Sale's second successive home defeat ended their outside hopes of a place in the knock-out stages.

They also lost former scrum-half Bryan Redpath with a suspected dislocated shoulder just before half-time.

Nicolas Brusque got Biarritz off to a perfect start with a third-minute try and they never looked back after that.

The French full-back raced through after fly-half Julien Peyrelongue sliced through the Sharks defence with consummate ease from Ovidiu Tonita's superb short pass and Dimitri Yachvili added the resulting conversion.

Sale were dominant in the line-out, largely through the towering presence of Chris Jones, and enjoyed the lion's share of possession.

But in the absence of injured fly-half Charlie Hodgson, they lacked invention in attack against a watertight defence.

We went out in a very positive frame of mind but I was very impressed with Biarritz's defence Sale coach Jim Mallinder

Even when they were down to 14 men following the 18th-minute sin-binning of prop Petru Balan for a professional foul, Biarritz rarely looked like conceding a try.

The travelling fans had to wait another 44 minutes for their second try, when prop Denis Avril was driven over from a five-metre scrum.

But the visitors were generally in control and Peyrelongue completed their scoring with a 73rd-minute drop goal.

Sale's best chance came just before the interval when fly-half Jos Baxendell broke clear from a scrum only to watch the supporting Graeme Bond drop his pass with the line beckoning.

Sale: Robinson, Mayor, van Straaten, Bond, Hanley, Baxendell, Redpath, Yates, Cairns, Turner, Fullarton, Schofield, White, Sanderson, C. Jones.
Replacements: Roddam., Stewart, Day, Lund, Hoyle, Going, Wigglesworth.

Biarritz: Brusque, Vidave., Stcherbina, Isaac, Marlu, Peyrelongue, Yachvili, Balan, Gonzales, Avril, Manent, Couzinet, Betsen, Tonita, T. Lievremont.
Replacements: Minassian, Fitzgerald, Puleoto, Chouchan, Mazas, Gaitan, Bernat-Salles.

Referee: A Roland (IRFU)