Sale boss Philippe Saint-Andre believes the Sharks' powerful scrummaging has been the key to their European success this season.
Outgunned Pau were put to the sword as Sale lifted the Challenge Cup for the second time in three years with a dominant forward performance in wretched conditions at the Kassam Stadium.
The Sharks' pack bossed their opponents for long spells and hammered them at the scrum, even pushing Pau off their own ball in one second half incident for the struggling French outfit.
Referee Alan Lewis allowed Sale to take advantage of their superiority up front, providing Saint-Andre with a timely boost after his side was heavily penalised by Zurich Premiership officials in league matches.
Sale crushed Harlequins in the scrum three weeks ago and enjoyed the ascendancy over Wasps in the Premiership semi-final seven days later, only to find themselves on the wrong side of the referee's whistle.
Saint-Andre said: "Our set-piece has been the key to winning in Europe. For the Heineken and European Cups you need to be good at the set piece. Pau are strong at the line-out, in the scrum and on the drive but we smashed them.
"We had the edge on Wasps in the scrum during the Premiership semi-final but were penalised. That doesn't happen in Europe where referees let you scrummage properly.
"Newcastle and Northampton struggled in the front five and lost to Stade Francais and Toulouse. Fifty-fifty decisions should go in the stronger team's favour. We showed again yesterday that we can compete against big packs."
All Sale's points were by members of their five-strong Lions contingent with Charlie Hodgson, Andy Titterrell and Mark Cueto crossing, while the tourists' clean bill of health was excellent news for Sir Clive Woodward.
