Sale's win comes at a cost
October 17 2009
Sale director of rugby Kingsley Jones admitted Andrew Sheridan could miss England's autumn internationals after he dislocated his left shoulder in the 27-26 Heineken Cup victory over Pool Five rivals Cardiff.
The British and Irish Lions prop sustained the injury in the 73rd minute following a scrum and could be set for a prolonged period on the sidelines, ruling him out of England's Test matches next month.
Jones said: "It looks like Andrew has dislocated his shoulder.
"It has gone out and come back in again, and if he misses the autumn internationals it would be a big loss because we know how important he is to England."
Sheridan's injury marred a classic encounter which saw Sale's teenage lock James Gaskell enhance his fast-growing reputation with a virtuoso performance.
The 19-year-old lock from Sandbach, who stands 6ft 7in, created a try for skipper Dean Schofield in the 37th minute with a fine run and then went over himself shortly after the restart as Sale responded in style to last week's thumping defeat in Toulouse.
Fijian flanker Sisa Koyamaibole got the ball rolling with their first try in the 33rd minute before Gaskell seized centre stage to illuminate an impressive performance from Jones' men.
Jones paid tribute to Gaskell, saying: "That young lad was outstanding and thankfully we have him tied down on a three-year contract.
"I'm delighted with our tries because they were something we worked on.
"We've performed well but we've got to be more clinical because if you make mistakes then you will get punished.
"But I'm proud of the the team and the commitment we showed."
Cardiff, who won their opening match against Harlequins last weekend, hit back through Andy Powell in the 50th minute and Robin Sowden-Taylor then pounced on a loose ball to claim their second try in the 79th minute.
Ben Blair converted to cut the gap to one point, but Sale held on to keep alive their hopes of progressing to the knockout stages.
Cardiff director of rugby Dai Young was angry about Koyamaibole's try being awarded and also the yellow card shown to number eight Andy Powell in the first half for an apparent late challenge on Sale scrum-half Dwayne Peel.
Sale scored 14 points when the Blues were down to 14 men and Young said: "I really don't see how they can give that try.
"Then we had that double whammy of Andy Powell getting a dubious yellow card.
"I am annoyed that we were down to 14 men but I was happy with how we came back."
Cardiff at least claimed a losing bonus point, and Young added: "It would have been criminal if we had gone home with nothing."