SALE Sharks director of rugby, Alex Sanderson, was frustrated with his side as they fell to a 10-9 home defeat in their Heineken Champions Cup last-16 first-leg tie against Bristol.

It was Sale who took the early lead through the boot of Rob Du Preez, before Callum Sheedy replied from the tee to reduce the deficit to 6-3 at half-time.

An error-strewn encounter saw both sides struggle before replacement Semi Radradra burst through midfield and stepped his way past the last defender to put his side ahead late on.

Du Preez brought the Sharks back to within a point with another penalty three minutes from time, but the visitors held on for the narrowest of wins.

Sanderson said: “There is a great deal of frustration. Bristol were brilliant tactically, they bored us off, but it wasn’t a brilliant spectacle of free-flowing championship rugby. It was a tactic that worked and we have got to be better.

“The teams that do really well in this competition do the simple things really well, we need to do more of the simple things better.”

But Sanderson was quick to look forward to the return leg as his team hope to overturn the single-point deficit.

He added: “That is the beauty of a double header, we get to exorcise any frustration next week so roll on Friday. I wish we could play it again tomorrow.

“It wasn’t a fair representation of how we train, how we play or what we want to showcase in terms of the talent we have. We have got six days to put it right.”

Bristol boss Pat Lam said: “It’s a morale-booster in the sense that we have been up here five times during my time here and haven’t won.

“It’s a tough place to come. You know you’re in for a physical battle and you have to meet that head on. That’s what I’m most pleased about for the boys.

“We were gutted after that Northampton game. The boys felt ‘that’s not us’, worked hard on it this week and it was a big effort to keep Sale out all game.”