2006: Biarritz Olympique 11 Sale Sharks 6

Sale, leaders of the Premiership at the time, marked their first appearance in the knockout stage of the Heineken Cup with a disappointing performance at the Estadio Anoeta.

Two Charlie Hodgson penalties, one in each half, provided their only points, with Biarritz scoring the solitary try via Fijian winger Sereli Bobo as they built an 11-3 half-time lead.

The French club took the lead through Dimitri Yachvili's 21st-minute penalty, only for Hodgson to level matters for Sale.

However, Yachvili kicked his second penalty to put Biarritz back in front and Bobo's try stretched their advantage to 11-3 by the interval.

Yachvili's sin-binning five minutes before half-time gave Sale hope, but the visitors were unable to capitalise.

Although they controlled possession and territory, they couldn’t find a way through Biarritz’s solid defence and their only score came from Hodgson's late penalty.

2021: Stade Rochelais 45 Sale Sharks 21

Sale were blown away by a scintillating second-half performance from Stade Rochelais, who sealed their maiden Heineken Champions Cup semi-final appearance with six tries.

It was nip and tuck at the interval, with La Rochelle leading only 18-16, but the hosts pulled away in the first 20 minutes of the second period with doubles from Raymond Rhule and Geoffrey Doumayrou.

The opening half-hour saw the two sides trade a pair of penalties from Ihaia West and AJ MacGinty, who eventually finished with 15 and 11 points respectively.

West also created La Rochelle’s opening try on 28 minutes through Gregory Alldritt, with the fly-half kicking wide left to Victor Vito, who spun away and released Alldritt for a beautiful score.

MacGinty slotted over a penalty to cut the gap, but Dillyn Leyds’ try on 36 minutes again stretched La Rochelle’s lead to nine points, before Sale hit back on half-time, with Byron McGuigan beating his man on the outside, stepping back inside and finding Sam James, who strolled over.

However, La Rochelle took full control at the start of the second half, with Rhule scoring a brace of tries in the 41st and 51st minutes to extend the hosts’ lead to 14 points.

Rhule then turned provider with a wonderful run and pass inside to Doumayrou, who escaped the final man to score by the posts after 61 minutes.

The centre added his second try of the afternoon eight minutes later, when Leyds found him after a nice break and Doumayrou sprinted all the way to the line ahead of a tiring Sale defence.

McGuigan scored a consolation try for Sale with four minutes to play, but it was too little too late.

As Sale Sharks prepare for their third Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final, against Racing 92 on May 8, we look back on their two previous matches in the last eight of Europe’s biggest club rugby competition.