Glasgow Warriors defeated Sale Sharks 47-27 in an Investec Champions Cup tie at the CorpAcq Stadium. The match began with a minute's silence in memory of former Sale lock Hyron Andrews.
Andrews died on Friday in a hotel room at the Johannesburg hotel, where the team was staying ahead of their Champions Cup match in La Rochelle. He was 31 years old and had been playing regularly for Sale last season. Sale's coach, Alex Sanderson, said that the death of Hyron Andrews was 'still very raw to process'.
Sale took the lead through Ben Curry, who broke from the maul and sprinted, with Arron Reed scoring a try following a sharp handling move. George Ford added conversions and a penalty, restoring Sale's lead. Glasgow responded with a penalty try after a foul in the maul, following which Gus Warburton was sent to the sin-bin. Tom Roebuck also ended up in the sin-bin after tripping over Warriors' captain, Kyle Steyn.
Steyn ran down the wing and scored a try, with Jamie Dobie also adding a try. Alex Craig scored a try from close range, while Ollie Smith and Otti Tuipulu were also among the scorers for Glasgow. Horne added four conversions, and Lancaster one. Joe Carpenter made a one-handed offload that allowed Reed to respond to the Warriors' try from the maul, with Reke Ma'asi scoring a try after sustained pressure.
Glasgow had a perfect run of bonus-point wins in the pool stage last season, but in the quarter-finals, they lost to Toulon. The new rule in this year's tournament awards an extra point to teams that score three more tries than their opponents.
Rory Darge said that Sale is a very good team, especially their pack, and that they will enjoy the victory because they know how hard it is to beat them there. The match was officiated by Craig Evans from Wales, with assistants Gareth Newman and Lucas Yendle, and TMO Ben Whitehouse.
The second round of the Champions Cup will take place in December. Glasgow will host Pau, while Sale will travel to Dublin to play against Leinster.
