Sale 9-10 Bristol: Semi Radradra score gives Bears advantage

Sale's only points came from the boot of fly-half Rob du Preez

Semi Radradra's slaloming score gave Bristol the advantage after a dour first leg of the Champions Cup last-16 tie away to Sale.

The Fiji centre weaved past two Sale tacklers to score with 11 minutes left and set up a 10-9 win.

It was the only highlight in a game riddled with errors and lacking rhythm.

Bristol could have taken a more telling advantage back to Ashton Gate, but Sale's Arron Reed scampered back to deny Andy Uren an interception score.

The teams meet again on Friday evening with the aggregate score across the two matches deciding who will face Racing 92 or Stade Francais in the quarter-finals.

Neither team will have struck fear into the French though with a pair of disjointed performances combining to produce a poor spectacle.

The return of Manu Tuilagi for his first start since February had been a big draw for the home fans, but, with a lack of quality ball, the England centre was rarely able to dent the Bears defence.

He stepped out of the action on 50 minutes, with Radradra arriving off the bench shortly after.

Radradra was part of a strong set of Bristol replacements, featuring Charles Piutau, Fitz Harding and returning captain Steven Luatua, and coach Pat Lam's plan to come on strong in the final quarter paid off via a typical piece of midfield magic.

With only his second touch of the ball, Radradra swerved off both feet to leave tacklers trailing in his week and dive under the posts.

Sale's replacement scrum-half Raffi Quirke, who had added energy and invention after coming on for Faf de Klerk, came off with a hamstring injury sustained attempting to stop Radradra's score.

Rob du Preez slotted his third penalty to cut Bristol's lead to a point with three minutes left, but the home side will be left ruing their lack of ambition and accuracy.

Sale coach Alex Sanderson: "There is a great deal of frustration. Bristol were brilliant tactically, they bored us off, but it wasn't a brilliant spectacle of free-flowing championship rugby. It was a tactic that worked and we have got to be better.

"We get to exorcise any frustration next week so roll on Friday. I wish we could play it again tomorrow."

Bristol coach Pat Lam: "It's a tough place to come. You know you're in for a physical battle and you have to meet that head on. That's what I'm most pleased about for the boys.

"We were gutted after that Northampton game. The boys felt 'that's not us', worked hard on it this week and it was a big effort to keep Sale out all game."

Sale: L. James, Metcalf, S. James, Tuilagi, Reed, R. Du Preez,F. de Klerk, Rodd, van der Merwe, Schonert, Wiese, De Jager,du Preez, Ross, D. Du Preez, Quirke.

Replacements: van Rensburg for Tuilagi (50), Quirke for F. de Klerk (50), McIntyre for Rodd (64), Ashman for van der Merwe (64), Oosthuizen for Schonert (31), Taylor for Quirke (72).Not Used: Postlethwaite, Hammersley.

Bristol: Morahan, Bates, O'Connor, Bedlow, Leiua, Sheedy,Randall, Woolmore, Byrne, Sinckler, Attwood, Joyce, Vui,Jeffries, Hughes.

Replacements: Piutau for Bates (41), Radradra for Bedlow (59),Uren for Randall (77), Y. Thomas for Woolmore (64), Thacker for Byrne (49), Afoa for Sinckler (49), Luatua for Attwood (49), Harding for Hughes (59).