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Sale Sharks caught French Top 14 side Clermont Auvergne cold to claim a valuable 32-15 Heineken Cup Pool Two victory on the road.

Luke McAlister, on goal-kicking duty in place of Hodgson, clipped over two penalties in the opening 15 minutes to give the Guinness Premiership side a 6-0 lead.

And they grabbed the first try of the game five minutes later, wing David Doherty finishing off a move sparked by Peel's midfield break from halfway with McAlister adding the conversion.

Clermont, who tried to be adventurous, were repeatedly frustrated by Sales' disciplined defensive work and the French side's handling errors kept them off the scoreboard until Brock James pegged three points back on the half-hour with a close-range penalty.

James pulled the deficit back to 13-6 four minutes later with a second penalty which, luckily for him, went over off the inside of the left-hand upright but he missed a chance to cut Sale's lead to four points at the interval, pulling his 35-metre goal shot wide.

Hodgson entered the fray six minutes into the second half, replacing Peel with Wigglesworth stepping up to scrum-half, just in time to see James cut another three points off his side's lead.

But the discarded England fly-half made his mark in the 52nd minute, his miss-pass setting up a superbly crafted try for McAlister, who converted his own score to give Sale a 20-9 lead.

James cut that by three points on the hour and a minute later McAlister fired narrowly wide with a monster kick from inside his own half as Sale looked to maintain their hard-won lead.

And they did that in style in the 73rd minute with a try from centre Rudi Keil with McAlister making it three successful conversions for a 17-point haul.

And Sale rubbed salt in the beaten home side's wounds with a fourth bonus-point try, which went unconverted, three minutes from time finished off by Mark Cueto.

Leinster were handed a 27-16 victory as Edinburgh paid dearly for a terrible first half in their Pool Two opener at Murrayfield.

The venue for this year's final had been a real bogey ground for the visitors - but some truly shocking tackling allowed them to run in four tries before the interval through Rocky Elsom, Brian O'Driscoll, Felipe Contepomi and Shane Horgan.

That proved enough to secure victory, despite Edinburgh being awarded a penalty try early in the second half.

In Pool Four, a brilliant second-half comeback from Harlequins sealed a dramatic 29-22 triumph against Scarlets at a stunned Stradey Park.

The Quins trailed 19-3 at the interval of this see-sawing Pool 4 tie and looked completely out of it - but they looked a different side after the break.

Fly-half Chris Malone kicked 19 points, while tries from scrum-half Danny Care and wing Ugo Monye made it a miserable final European game at the famous old ground for home fans.

Scarlets will wonder how they blew such an advantage, after dominating a first 40 minutes in which they scored two tries. Had it not been for some desperate visitors' defence, they could have claimed at least four more.

But the sin-binning of Wales hooker Matthew Rees after 61 minutes proved crucial.

French giants Stade Francais proved too strong for a brave but outclassed Ulster in the same pool, comfortably winning 26-10.

Stade's finishing was simply too strong for the home side and Ewen McKenzie's squad were able to end a four-match losing run in the competition at Ravenhill with some ease.

Tries in either half were converted by Lionel Beauxis, with the Stade full-back adding a wonderful long-range drop goal to sit alongside man of the match Juan Martin Fernandez Hernandez's two great strikes.

Newport Gwent Dragons got off to a flying start to beat the battling Glasgow Warriors 32-22 in Pool Five.

The boot of home fly-half James Arlidge proved the difference as both teams ran in three tries - the Dragons through Gareth Wyatt (two) and Colin Charvis, while Lome Fa'atau, Max Evans and Alastair Kellock crossed for the visitors.

Olly Barkley kicked Gloucester to a vital 22-10 Pool Six victory over Biarritz at Kingsholm - but there was little to suggest the west country club will mount a major challenge for Heineken Cup honours this season.

England international Barkley landed four penalties and a conversion of James Simpson-Daniel's 39th-minute try on his Gloucester European debut.

But Biarritz exposed enough chinks in Gloucester's armour to suggest Pool Six could go to the wire.

Cardiff Blues romped to a comfortable eight-try 50-26 victory over Italian champions Calvisano in their Pool Six clash.

Ma'ama Molitika, Jason Spice, Tom Shanklin, Ben Blair, Nick Robinson, Leigh Halfpenny and Gareth Thomas all went over, with a penalty try also added to the Blues' tally to put the Italian side to the sword with ease.

Justin Purll went over in the first half as the hosts briefly threatened a shock result.

But they were little match for the strength and pace of the Welsh region who breezed through with a devastating second-half blitz of tries.

Sporting Life / Eurosport