European Challenge Cup: Castres 10-17 Sale Sharks

Nev Edwards joined Sale Sharks in September following a successful pre-season trial

A late penalty try gave Sale victory over Castres at Stade Pierre-Antoine in their European Challenge Cup clash.

Nev Edwards scored an early try for Sale, before Castres' Florian Vialelle went over, but Julien Dumora's penalty put the hosts 10-7 ahead at the break.

Joe Ford sent over a penalty before Castres' Marc-Antoine Rallier and Sales' Will Addison were sin-binned.

Julien Caminati's late attempt to stop Charlie Ingall saw Sale awarded the decisive penalty try.

The win moves the English Premiership side to within one point of Pool Two leaders Newport Gwent Dragons after three games.

Sale got off to the ideal start, Edwards sprinting away for the game's opening points from an Andrei Ostrikov kick, but Castres heaped the pressure on in search of a reply, which came through Vialelle on eight minutes.

Sharks flanker Magnus Lund was forced off with a head injury before the television match official denied Castres a second try, with replays showing that the Sharks defence did enough to force full-back Caminati into touch.

Ford had a chance to put Sale ahead again, but his penalty on 27 minutes drifted wide. Dumora, however, made no mistake soon after, slotting over to give the French side the lead on 33 minutes.

A combination of probing grubber kicks and scrappy play eventually led to Ford teeing up his second penalty attempt, with the fly-half this time booting the three points to make it 10-10.

Rallier's yellow card following a scuffle saw Ford opt for the posts soon after, but he was off target again before Sales' one-man advantage was lost as Addison was sin-binned.

Sharks pushed for the breakthrough as Ingall went close to touching down, and the video referee eventually gave the penalty try after deciding that Caminati's attempt to stop the winger was illegal.

Castres: Caminati; Martial, Vialelle, Combezou, Decrop; Dumora, Dupont; Taumoepeau, Rallier, Montes; Samson, Moreaux, Caballero, Diarra, Beattie.

Replacements: Beziat, Tichit, Martinez, Desroche, Babillot, Fontaine, Lamerat, Seron.

Sale: Arscott; Edwards, Addison, Jennings, Ingall; Ford, Mitchell, Lewis-Roberts, Briggs, Mujati, Mills, Ostrikov, Lund, Seymour (capt), Easter.

Replacements: Taylor, Flynn, Parker, Beaumont, Neild, Jeffers, James, Haley.

Referee: David Wilkinson (Ireland)