Stade Français start in style
Stade Francais marked their European return to Stade Jean Bouin with a rousing victory over Lusitanos.
Last year's Challenge Cup runners-up looked in fine form once again with nine tries against their Portuguese opponents making their tournament debut.
Jerome Porical stole the show with 22 points including two tries in the space of six minutes before half-time.
However the fullback, who helped kick Stade to the final in May, narrowly missed out on completing his hat-trick despite taking his tally to 258 points in Europe.
Wing Julien Arias also continued his remarkable scoring run with the 28th and 29th tries of his European career as Stade galloped clear.
Fellow wing Andrea Cocagi opened the scoring inside four minutes before No.8 Nicolas Garrault finished a powerful drive by the Stade forwards.
Arias was then the benefactor of some good footwork by flyhalf Peter Lydon on 21 minutes.
Porical converted all three tries before claiming two of his own in quick succession to claim a bonus point after half an hour.
Pedro Cabral had seen an earlier penalty sail wide when his second attempt rebounded in off the post to claim the distinction of scoring his team's first points in Europe.
Leading 35-3 at half-time, lock Anton Van Zyl extended the difference within seconds of the second-half kicking off before Arias claimed a second.
Veteran Pierre Rabadan stepped off the bench to continue his club record for the most appearances and most tries in the Challenge Cup claiming his 10th score in his 28th game. Scrumhalf Richard Kingi claimed Stade's ninth on 66 minutes.
Yet despite the deficit, Lusitanos refused to yield and not only survived the final 15 minutes without any further tries but showed plenty of ambition of their own to the final whistle.
All of Thursday's results and scorers:
Stade Français 61-3 Lusitanos
The scorers:
For Stade Français:
Tries: Cocagi, Garrault, Arias 2, Porical 2, Van Zyl, Rabadan, Kingi
Cons: Porical 6, Lydon, Mallet
For Lusitanos:
Pen: Cabral
The teams:
Stade Français: 15 Jerome Porical, 14 Adrea Cocagi, 13 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Julien Arias, 10 Peter Lydon, 9 Richard Kingi, 8 Nicolas Garrault, 7 Olivier Missoup, 6 Remi Bonfils, 5 Gerhard Mostert, 4 Anton van Zyl, 3 David Attoub, 2 Aled De Malmanche (captain), 1 Zurabi Zhvania.
Replacements: 16 Laurent Sempere, 17 Benjamin Chabert, 18 Davit Kubriashvili, 19 Carl Wegner, 20 Pierre Rabadan, 21 Vincent Mallet, 22 Martin Rodriguez, 23 Clement Daguin.
Lusitanos: 15 Afonso Rodrigues, 14 Francisco Appleton, 13 Pedro Bettencourt Avila, 12 Luis Miguel Leal, 11 Gonçalo Foro, 10 Pedro Cabral, 9 Francisco Pinto de Magalhães, 8 Vasco Uva (captain), 7 Salvador Cunha, 6 Antonio Duarte, 5 Rafael Simoes, 4 Rui D'Orey, 3 Jorge Segurado, 2 Francisco Tavares, 1 João Almeida.
Replacements: 16 Bruno Medeiros, 17 Duarte Foro, 18 Bruno Rocha, 19 Fernando Almeida, 20 Vasco Fragoso Mendes, 21 Antonio Salgueiro, 22 Rodrigo Figueiredo, 23 Luis Salema.
Sale Sharks 33-10 Biarritz
The scorers:
For Sale Sharks:
Tries: Penalty try 2, Ostrikov
Cons: Ford 2, Cipriani
Pens: Ford 3
DG: Ford
For Biarritz:
Try: Van Staden
Con: Peyrelongue
Pen: Peyrelongue
The teams:
Sale: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Phil McKenzie, 13 Jonny Leota, 12 Sammy Tuitupou, 11 Tom Brady, 10 Joe Ford, 9 Will Cliff, 8 Mark Easter, 7 Dan Braid, 6 Jonathan Mills, 5 Andrei Ostrikov, 4 Kirill Kulemin, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Ross Harrison.
Replacements: 16 Tommy Taylor, 17 Aston Croall, 18 Vadim Cobilas, 19 Tom Holmes, 20 Andrew Hughes, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Danny Cipriani, 23 Tom Arscott.
Biarritz: 15 Joe Pietersen 14 Aled Brew, 13 Geoffrey Sella, 12 Seremaia Burotu, 11 Teddy Thomas, 10 Julien Peyrelongue (captain), 9 Yann Lesgourgues, 8 Ueleni Fono, 7 Tanguy Molcard, 6 Benoit Guyot, 5 Addison Lockley, 4 Mathias Marie, 3 Eugene van Staden, 2 Romain Ruffenach, 1 Thomas Synaeghel.
Replacements: 16 Alexandre Menini, 17 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 18 Erik Lund, 19 Joshua Furno, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Charles Gimenez, 22 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 23 Fabien Barcella.
Bayonne 37-6 Grenoble
The scorers:
For Bayonne:
Tries: Arganese, Gerber, Ugalde, Fonua
Cons: Bustos Moyano 3, Brett
Pens: Bustos Moyano 3
For Grenoble:
Pens: Bezy 2
The teams:
Bayonne: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Martin Bustos Moyano, 13 Sam Gerber, 12 Bastien Fuster, 11 Marvin O'Connor, 10 Stephen Brett, 9 Mathieu Belie, 8 Dwayne Haare, 7 Jean-Jo Marmouyet, 6 Guillaume Bernad, 5 Mark Chisholm (captain), 4 Abdellatif Boutaty, 3 Gert Muller, 2 Gregory Arganese, 1 Aretz Iguiniz.
Replacements: 16 David Roumieu, 17 JC Janse van Rensburg, 18 Vitolio Manukula, 19 Lisiate Fa'aoso, 20 Opéti Fonua, 21 Jean Monribot, 22 Mike Phillips, 23 Matthieu Ugalde.
Grenoble: 15 Fabien Gengenbacher (captain), 14 Ratu Alipate Ratini, 13 Rida Jaouher, 12 Geoffroy Messina, 11 Daniel Kilioni, 10 Jordan Michallet, 9 Nicolas Bezy, 8 Flavien Nouhaillaguet, 7 Fabien Alexandre, 6 Cedric Beal, 5 Hendrik Roodt, 4 Thibault Rey, 3 Richard Choirat, 2 Florian Lescadieu, 1 Kenan Mutapcic.
Replacements: 16 Vincent Campo, 17 Romain David, 18 Kevin Goze, 19 Geoffrey Nouhaillaguet, 20 James Hart, 21 Shane O'Leary, 22 Louis Marrou, 23 Roland Bernard.
