Munster stun Stade

The result seriously dents the French side's hopes of advancing from Pool Four in the European Champions Cup.

Munster had been humbled by 14-man Stade in Paris last weekend, but they gained revenge as Mike Sherry, Keith Earls, Simon Zebo and CJ Stander scored tries, with Ian Keatley adding three conversions.

Stade's only try came from flank Jono Ross, with Morné Steyn kicking the rest of their points and they will need to beat Leicester Tigers in their final fixture to have any hope of reaching the knock-out stage.

The hosts did not make the most promising of starts as they conceded a penalty inside the first 10 seconds, which Steyn slotted to give the visitors the early advantage.

But Munster meant business with their defensive line speed harrying and hassling their opponents and forcing mistakes from Stade.

Sherry's try gave them the lead when a superb driving line-out ripped its way through the Stade pack and rumbled over the line with little opposition.

Keatley missed the conversion and Steyn but the French side back ahead a few moments later when he added his second penalty.

But there was a growing momentum behind Munster and they struck crucial blows either side of the interval to put Stade firmly on the back foot.

Earls got the first of them, the Ireland wing looked up to find a huge dogleg in the defence and pinned his ears back to race home from halfway. Keatley converted to send the hosts into the changing rooms six points ahead.

Moments after the restart came another try, Keatley's deft chip was seized upon by Zebo who ran in under the posts to give Keatley an easy conversion.

There seemed no way back for Stade and they could not capitalise when Munster lost Ronan O'Mahony to the sin bin after taking out Hugo Bonneval in the air.

Once he returned the French side gave themselves hope as a loose Munster line-out allowed flank Ross to get over the line, with Steyn converting.

But Munster had the last word. Conor Murray took a quick tap penalty and the outstanding Stander slithered his way to the line for the bonus-point score.

The scorers:

For Munster:

Tries: Sherry, Earls, Zebo, Stander

Con: Keatley 3

For Stade Français:

Try: Ross

Con: Steyn

Pen: Steyn 2

Yellow card: Ronan O'Mahony (Munster, 49 – foul play, taking a man out in the air)

Teams

Munster: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Francis Saili, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Ronan O'Mahony, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander (captain), 7 Tommy O'Donnell, 6 Billy Holland, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 Dave Foley, 3 Mario Sagario, 2 Mike Sherry, 1 Dave Kilcoyne.

Replacements: 16 Kevin O'Byrne, 17 Liam O'Connor, 18 John Ryan, 19 Donnacha Ryan, 20 Robin Copeland, 21 Jack O'Donoghue, 22 Tomás O'Leary, 23 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino.

Stade Français: 15 Hugo Bonneval, 14 Waisea Vuidravuwalu, 13 Jonathan Danty, 12 Paul Williams, 11 Julien Arias, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Jono Ross, 6 Sekou Macalou, 5 Pascal Papé, 4 Paul Gabrillagues, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Laurent Panis, 1 Zak Taulafo.

Replacements: 16 Zurabi Zhvania, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Paul Alo Emile, 19 Hugh Pyle, 20 Sylvain Nicolas, 21 Julien Tomas, 22 Jules Plisson, 23 Jérémy Sinzelle.

Referee: JP Doyle (England)

Assistant referees: Tom Foley (England), Paul Dix (England)

TMO: Graham Hughes (England)

Source: @ChampionsCup