A late penalty try proved to be the decisive moment as Sale Sharks battled to a 17-10 victory over Castres in the European Challenge Cup.
The Sharks made the perfect start with the first score inside the opening minute when Nev Edwards charged over after Andrei Ostrikov's kick had been blocked.
Castres responded well to the early setback to quickly draw level through Florian Viallele, who spotted the gap to score the try after Sale had stopped a number of runs forward.
Julien Dumora was on target with the conversion attempt and his penalty handed Castres a three-point advantage heading into the break.
Sale applied the pressure in the early stages of the second half, before drawing level just before the hour mark when Joe Ford split the posts with a penalty.
It was the visitors who pushed for most of the closing stages, and the decision went their way late on as Julien Caminati was punished for a no-armed tackle on Charlie Ingall, which resulted in a yellow card and a penalty try as Sale snatched the win.
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