Cardiff 28-27 Sale Sharks: Dai Young's side charge into Challenge Cup last eight on emotionally-charged night

Cardiff paid the perfect tribute to Peter Thomas as they edged out a strong Sale Sharks side to charge into the last eight of the Challenge Cup.

It has been a very sombre and difficult week for everyone associated with the Arms Park club after former chairman Thomas passed away.

It is unlikely the club would exist without Thomas' financial support over the past 30 years, and the former hooker will rightly be remembered as one of the most influential figures in Welsh rugby history.

READ MORE: Dai Young leaves field in tears as crowd falls silent to pay tribute to Cardiff life president Peter Thomas

After a highly emotional build-up to the game where Thomas was honoured with a period of silence and a minutes applause the game got under way.

Cardiff's players would have been forgiven if they had overawed by grief and emotion but they did Thomas proud by putting in their best performance of the season.

Sale, who possess one of the strongest packs in England, were favourites coming into this fixture but Cardiff edged them out with a tremendous all-round performance to set up a quarter-final with Benetton at the Arms Park next weekend.

This was a game they had to win twice over after racing into a 25-10 lead before Sale launched a huge comeback to sneak ahead before a late Jarrod Evans penalty won it for the hosts.

Cardiff found themselves under pressure from the get go, and were unable to stop Sale's powerful ball carriers from getting over the gain-line.

The visitors very nearly drew first blood but an excellent defensive set by the hosts resulted in Sale full-back Joe Carpenter getting held up over the line.

One area where Cardiff held the ascendancy was the scrum as they proceeded to shove Sale backwards at a rate of knots.