SALE completed mission impossible to get their Heineken Cup campaign off to the perfect start.

Few had given Sharks a chance ahead of their trip to French giants Clermont Auvergne but they provided a classic performance to claim a shock 32-15 win.

The manner in which they dismantled their French opponents was truly impressive.

Clermont had lost only once in their previous 39 home games but not only did Sale beat them, they embarrassed them, running in four tries to claim a bonus point.

Bold selection decisions by Philippe Saint-Andre paid off - scrum half Richard Wigglesworth providing spark in place of Charlie Hodgson at fly half - and there were stellar performances throughout the team.

Luke McAlister was truly magnificent at centre, dictating the ebb and flow of the game and Dwayne Peel fizzed at scrum half, while Kristian Ormsby, Luke Abraham and Sebastien Chabal provided steel and passion up front.

It was the complete display from a Sale side that had previously struggled to harmonise the two aspects of their game.

Defensive fortitude has never been a problem but attacking flair has not always followed. Finally it did, with spectacular results, McAlister, David Doherty, Rudi Keil and Mark Cueto all touching down.

This was not the same old story of a laxadaisical French side failing to turn up. Clermont gave it their all for the full 80 minutes, it was just that Sale gave it their all and then some.

Sharks got off to a flyer and after two penalties from McAlister had put them in front, they sliced through the Clermont defence to add the game’s first try on 20 minutes.

The quick-thinking Peel provided the inspiration, picking up from a ruck and darting through a gap in the cover to send Juan Fernandez Lobbe off and running. Lobbe didn’t panic and offloaded superbly to Doherty, who capped the stunning move.

Cranking up the pressure in spells before and after the break, Clermont looked as if they would pull themselves right back into the game and Brock James scored three penalties.

But they were soon put in their place.

Chabal stole a misplaced lineout and the resultant break saw Rory Lamont blast through Julien Malzieu’s tackle to send in McAlister.

Again, James responded with another couple of penalties only to be stunned by another vicious Sharks response.

A great bit of work from Abraham created the chance, the energetic openside making a strong tackle before bouncing back to his feet and stealing the ball to feed McAlister.

The Kiwi capped another impressive sequence of play by putting Keil over.

The scoring - and a famous win - was completed late on when Keil charged down a clearance kick from James and Lamont provided the scoring pass for Cueto.

Job done.