Redpath: Not enough firepower to compete (From Messenger Newspapers)

Redpath: Not enough firepower to compete

12:47pm Tuesday 23rd October 2012 in Sport

SALE Sharks’ director of rugby, Bryan Redpath, acknowledged the power of French rugby on their own soil after seeing his side go down to Montpellier on Sunday afternoon.

Redpath, who played down the road at Narbonne during his illustrious career, said: "We played a decent game and the young boys that came here have done exceptionally well in a tough environment.

"Winning here is a difficult challenge and winning matches in Europe is hard. You have to win your home games. We did that last weekend against the Blues and we've come here and given a reasonable account of ourselves.

"But we just didn't have enough firepower to compete. It got a bit messy and sloppy for us, and we must give credit to Montpellier fly half Francois Tranh-Duc.

"He set up two great tries with chip kicks and finished one himself.

“We dug in but twice, from our own 22, allowed Montpellier to score points immediately at our end – a converted try and a penalty. Ten points conceded over the length of the pitch, away from home, in poor conditions. We could have crumbled at 33-11, but didn’t and scored an opportunist try.

“I’m not too downhearted. We’ve got to learn from this game.”

As for Sale's European hopes this season, he added: "I'm not thinking about qualification, we're looking more at performances, not necessarily long-term plans but for where we're going to be in Europe.

"This competition is for the very big clubs and it's hard to compete with them at the moment. The Premiership will be and always has been our main focus."