The English saved their worst for last in the first weekend of Heineken Cup matches. After London Irish's heroics in Dublin on Friday and Northampton beating Munster on Saturday, Sale put out a side who were never going to stand up to Toulouse.
The English once looked down their noses when the French sent weakened sides across the Channel, but Sale's Welsh director of rugby was unapologetic. Toulouse ran in five tries and a record defeat in the Heineken Cup was only avoided by late tries from Rob O'Connell, a prop playing most of the game at lock, and Ben Cohen.
"It was a big test for a lot of the guys out there and they came through it," said Kingsley Jones, whose selection had more to do with the home match against the Cardiff Blues this Friday. "A couple of people proved things to me today and they also proved it to themselves."
A year ago Philippe Saint-André took Sale to Clermont and produced arguably their best European result. But by Christmas he had effectively left and key players were preparing to follow him to Toulon. Of the 15 that started against Clermont, only Dwayne Peel lined up today.
Jones rested Andrew Sheridan, Chris Jones, Dean Schofield, Eifion Roberts, Mark Cueto and Mathew Tait and ordered a flight home within three hours of the final whistle. The owner's 19-year-old son, Jonny Kennedy, got his first start against a team who started with 15 internationals and had six on the bench.
After 110 seconds, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde's cross kick found Cédric Heymans on the left.The winger passed to Maxime Médard, who did the rest. Elissalde converted. Nick MacLeod reduced the lead to four but a rolling maul, an up and under and a charge by Thierry Dusautoir allowed Florian Fritz to work a two-man overlap and Vincent Clerc did the rest. Eleven minutes later Census Johnston went close before Elissalde spotted Clerc all alone again and hooked the ball wide right, for the wing to dot it down.
The conversion and an earlier penalty from Elissalde looked like setting up a painful afternoon for Sale. Carl Fearns had made one clever break up the middle and Cohen was trying things, but Yves Donguy went over for Toulouse's bonus-point try within 45 seconds of replacing Cédric Heymans at half-time.
Guy Noves then emptied his bench, destroying Toulouse's continuity and playing Sale back into the game. Byron Kelleher's clever chip did set up Donguy for his second try, but Cohen and O'Donnell, by now playing in his regular position, allowed Jones to look to Friday and the Blues and suggest that his gamble would pay off.
Toulouse Médard; Clerc, Fritz, Jauzion, Heymans (Donguy, ht); Elissalde (Michalak, 46), Kelleher; Human (Lecouls, 46), Servat (Lacombe, 46), Johnston (Poux, 46), Lamboley, Albacete (Millo-Chlusky, 46), Bouilhou (capt; Nyanga, 71), Dusautoir, Picamoles (David, 46).
Tries Médard, Clerc 2, Donguy 2. Cons Elissalde 3, Michalak. Pen Elissalde.
Sale Vakacegu; Cohen, Kennedy (Bishop, 66), Tuilagi, Ripol; MacLeod, Peel (capt); Kerr (Tait, 52), Schwalger (Briggs, 52), Forster (Halsall, 66), O'Donnell, Cox, Gaskell, Seymour, Fearns.
Tries O'Donnell, Cohen. Cons MacLeod 2. Pen MacLeod.
Referee G Clancy (Ireland). Attendance 28,532.
