Arias' brace ensures vital Stade win
Two tries from right wing Julien Arias helped Stade Francais to record a vital 15-13 victory over Bath in Paris on Saturday afternoon in their Heineken Cup Pool Four clash.
While the home side went into the match as big favourites, few expected it to be an easy contest for fixture for the P4 log leaders. Unsurprisingly therefore it proved to be a tight contest with just a couple of point seperating the sides at the final whistle.
Ulster, having beaten Edinburgh 21-13 on Friday night, had ensured that the pressure was still on Stade Francais as they started the game. With that in mind, the hosts started well, controlling the game early on and forcing the first scoring opportunity, a penalty, after just three minutes.
French No.10, Lionel Beauxis, playing at fullback, missed with that first attempt but made up for it after 17 minutes – slotting over three from the tee.
Bath didn-t take long to respond, leveling the scores through a Nicky Little penalty just three minutes later.
Tries though were soon flowing as the home side scored two, through win Arias, and Bath captain Michael Claassens scored one to keep the visitors in touch.
Going into the break 15-10 up, Stade Francais were in a good position but were taking nothing for granted.
The second half proved to be a titanic low scoring battle. Little scored the only points of the half two minutes in, narrowing the gap to just two points.
In the end the home side held on to claim the win and regain their four point lead at the top of Pool Four.
More to follow…
The Scorers
For Stade Francais
Tries: Arias 2
Pen: Beauxis
Cons: Beauxis
For Bath
Try: Claassens
Pen: Little 2
Cons: Little
The teams:
Stade Français: 15 Lionel Beauxis, 14 Julien Arias, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Geoffroy Messina, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Ignacio Mieres, 9 Hugo Southwell, 8 Juan Leguizamon, 7 Pierre Rabadan, 6 James Haskell, 5 Pascal Pape, 4 Tom Palmer, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Rabah Slimani, 18 Pedro Ledesma, 19 Pierre Vigouroux, 20 Antoine Burban, 21 Aristide Barraud, 22 Guillaume Bousses, 23 Mark Gasnier.
Bath: 15 Joe Maddock, 14 Michael Stephenson, 13 Matt Carraro, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Nicky Little, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Luke Watson, 7 Jules Salvi, 6 Andrew Beattie, 5 Peter Short, 4 Danny Grewcock, 3 David Wilson, 2 Lee Mears, 1 David Flatman.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Dixon, 17 David Barnes, 18 Duncan Bell, 19 Stuart Hooper, 20 Ben Skirving, 21 Scott Bemand, 22 Ryan Davis, 23 Jack Cuthbert
Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Colin Stanley (Ireland), Kevin Beggs (Ireland)
TMO: Marshall Kilgore (Ireland)
