Toulouse vs Sale Prediction: Toulouse to blow Sharks out the water

The European Rugby Champions Cup round-of-16 stage concludes on Sunday afternoon (15:00, Premier Sports 1) with Sale Sharks facing the daunting task of taking on reigning champions Toulouse at the Stade Ernest-Wallon. 

Alex Jack provides his best bets in his Toulouse vs Sale prediction piece, as well as all the essential team news and match odds for the showdown in the south of France. 

Rugby Union Odds

Team News

Toulouse have a front row of David Ainu'u, Julien Marchand and Dorian Aldegheri, with locks Thibaud Flament and Emmanuel Meafou in the engine room. 

Francois Cros, Alexandre Roumat and Jack Willis form the back row, with Paul Graou and Romain Ntamack in the half-backs. 

Pita Ahki and Pierre-Louis Barassi start in the centres, while the back three is made up of Blair Kinghorn, Ange Capuozzo and full-back Thomas Ramos. 

Sale Sharks go with Si McIntyre, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Asher Opoku-Fordjour in the front row, with Ernst van Rhyn and Jonny Hill in the second row. 

Brothers Tom and Ben Curry start in the back row alongside Jean-Luc du Preez, while Gus Warr and George Ford start in the half-backs. 

Rekeiti Ma'asi-White and Rob du Preez are the centres, with Aaron Reed, Tom Roebuck and Luke James in the back three. 

Toulouse vs Sale Odds

Toulouse are the overwhelming 1/25 favourites to win on home soil, while Sale Sharks are 9/1 to pull off a major upset across the Channel. 

A draw is available at 28/1, while Sale to be leading the game at the half-time whistle is currently 4/1. 

Toulouse -25 handicap @ 11/10

Toulouse have been blowing teams away at Stade Ernest-Wallon this season and it's hard to see Sunday's game being any different against a Sharks side in fifth place in the Gallagher Premiership. 

With a 41-6 win over Bayonne, followed by a 63-21 victory over Vannes and a 55-10 hammering of Section Paloise in their last three home games, Toulouse have been scoring tries for fun. 

Leicester Tigers had a harrowing experience on their visit to Stade Ernest-Wallon earlier this season in the pool stages, with the Premiership outfit suffering an 80-12 defeat at the hands of a rampant Toulouse. 

The hosts will miss their talisman and scrum-half Antoine Dupont as he continues to recover from a serious knee injury but they have more than enough quality all over the park to put the Sharks to the sword. 

While Sale will try to dig in and play in the right areas of the field through the kicking of Ford, it's hard to see the Sharks being able to keep the score down. 

A -25 handicap might seem like a lot but, considering Toulouse's recent home form and what they did to Leicester, the hosts should be able to overcome that in a high-scoring encounter in the south of France.