It took them all afternoon, but the stars of the Cardiff Blues got there in the end. They looked uninterested and leaden in a match whose result had seemed certain from the moment the teams were announced. Certain that is until the kick-off revealed just how without shape or snap the visitors had travelled. It would be hard for anyone to argue that they deserved their win, even if they eventually out-scored Sale's reserves two tries to one, the winner coming as the game went into injury time. Up until that point the home side had looked the sharper, not that that says a great deal in a disappointing game.
Cross-border contests are supposed to get the juices flowing, particularly those either side of the Anglo-Welsh frontier. It says something for this competition's problems, then, that there was such lethargy about this match. Sale did not help matters by joining the trend set by their compatriots of fielding second-string teams, if that. Edgeley Park was barely two-thirds full - if only the EDF Energy Cup were even half.
But neither can we blame the English sides at this time of the season, particularly this one, which saw a full programme of midweek fixtures last week. Sale had endured a punishing evening at London Irish on Wednesday, and next weekend it is the Heineken Cup and a trip to the Auvergne to take on the stars of Clermont. All in all, they did well to volunteer any of their troops for this one.
Even so, the Sale second/third team still contained seven internationals, two of them Lions, which hints at the quality of their squad. Jason White was making his first start of the season and looked typically robust in contact.
Notwithstanding his presence and that of Brent Cockbain and Richard Wigglesworth among the Sale ranks, it showed little for even Cardiff's enthusiasm for this competition that they laboured against the Sale juniors from the opening whistle. They trailed 11-10 at the break, having contributed a fine try but little else.
The line-out work of both teams was poor, smacking of sides that have given up on that set piece. And well might they, these days there are so few of them. As for a rolling maul, not a sign of one, obviously.
Not that the game was without its merits. Sale in particular developed a couple of nice passages around a fast off-loading game that seems beyond their first team at the moment. Their try in the first half was also a gem, featuring the mazy running of Oriol Ripol twice and the support play of Wigglesworth, before Rudi Keil rounded it off.
It was an immediate response to Cardiff's try, a nicely worked score off a scrum, with Leigh Halfpenny, the latest youngster causing excitement in Wales, finishing off Richie Rees's break in the 13th minute. Otherwise, though, it was developing into a game of no definition on a grey day in the outskirts of Manchester.
Cardiff are having a so-so campaign in the Magners League, but they won their last game 58-0 against Connacht, so they - and we - might have expected them, not far off full strength, to fare better against Sale's seconds than they did.
Nick Macleod, playing against his old club, kicked two penalties for Sale at the start of the second half, to add to the two he slotted in the first, and opened up a seven-point lead in the 56th minute.
His opposite number, Ben Blair, the respected All Black, missed three shots at goal in the first half in a kicking display that deteriorated into the embarrassing, also skewing a penalty kick for touch that bobbled harmlessly into the Sale 22 closer to the middle of the pitch than the touchline. Sure enough, he was relieved of his duties in the second half and Ceri Sweeney brought Cardiff to within four points of the home side just before the hour.
Sale, though, continued to look the more dangerous. An Andy Tuilagi break would surely have led to a try had White not got involved in the open spaces, dropping the ball while trying to be too clever with Ripol free outside him.
As normal time ran out, though, an attacking Cardiff line-out saw the Blues' props drive into the heart of Sale, and Jamie Roberts' inside ball was taken by Richard Mustoe for a try out wide, which finally took the wind out of Sale.
Edgeley Park 7,485
Sale Macleod; Kuadey (Royle 50), Keil, Tuilagi (Kennedy 68), Ripol; Wigglesworth, Leck; Faure, M Jones, Halsall, C Jones (Shaw 75), Cockbain, White (Gaskell 68), D Tait (Davies 36), Fearns.
Tries Keil Pens Macleod 4
Cardiff Blues Blair; Halfpenny (Mustoe 49), J Robinson (Shanklin 71), J Roberts, G Thomas; Sweeney (N Robinson 55), Rees; Yapp, T Thomas (G Williams, 80), Filise, Davies (Jones 53), Tito, A Powell (Sowden-Taylor 55), M Williams, Lewis.
Try Halfpenny, Mustoe Con Blair, Sweeney Pens Blair
Referee T Hayes (Wales)
