Sale lost their first game under new coach Paul Deacon as they were defeated 26-14 by Toulon in the Heineken Champions Cup.
Toulon fly-half Luis Carbonell - who made his international debut for France in November - was impressive from the tee, scoring 16 points for the hosts.
One stand-out moment from the match saw former Italy captain Sergio Parisse burst through before pulling off an offload of the highest quality to set up a try.
"48 years of age and he's still got it!"
Sergio Parisse with an absolutely magical offload 🤘
We're lucky the NBA didn't steal him away from us with handles like that 🔥
#HeinekenChampionsCup