Perfect start for Tigers in European Cup
This game was a repeat of the 2001 European Cup Final and the fans were rewarded with another classic as both sides threw the ball around from the start. Stade held the upper hand to begin with, but 20 points in the space of 15 minutes around half-time put the Tigers in the driving seat.
The Tigers may have felt slightly hard done by when Peter Betham's early effort was ruled out because of some obstruction from Marcos Ayerza, but it didn't stop them from going on to register four tries.
Stade lost the services of their former Tigers scrumhalf Julien Dupuy with a knee injury and not long after Julien Tomas had taken over his role the replacement opened the scoring with a classic French try. The ball went through eight pairs of hands, stating on the Stade 10 metre line and ending with fullback Hugo Bonneval passing out of the tackle on the floor five metres out for Tomas to cross.
Morne Steyn couldn't convert, but two minutes later the South African landed a monster penalty from halfway to stretch the lead to eight points and put the Tigers on the back foot. But O'Connor won a vital turn over to pave the way for a try from Vereniki Goneva wide on the left and that was the start of the home revival.
Owen Williams added the extras and then Matt Smith powered over in the same corner to give the Tigers a deserved interval lead. The second half started with a 50 metre gallop from O'Connor to score in the corner and then a Williams penalty made it 20 points in 15 minutes.
Stade skipper Sergio Parisse then conjured up a pass out of the back of his hand to create a try for Paul Williams to ensure the game remained a contest going into the final quarter, but when Ben Youngs swooped for the bonus-point try it was clear the points were going Leicester's way.
Julien Arias grabbed a consolation try for the French champions, but penalties from the boots of Owen Williams and Seremai Bai completed a great night's work for the Tigers.
The Scorers:
For Leicester Tigers:
Tries: Goneva, Smith, O'Connor, B Youngs
Cons: Williams 2
Pens: Williams 2, Bai
Stade Français:
Tries: Tomas, Williams, Arias
Con: Steyn
Pen: Steyn
Teams:
Leicester: 15 Mathew Tait (captain), 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Peter Betham, 12 Matt Smith, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Lachlan McCaffrey, 7 Brendon O'Connor, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Michael Fitzgerald, 4 Mike Williams, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Fraser Balmain, 19 Dom Barrow, 20 Jordan Crane, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Seremaia Bai, 23 Telusa Veainu.
Stade Français: 15 Hugo Bonneval, 14 Julien Arias, 13 Paul Williams, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Jérémy Sinzelle, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Sylvain Nicolas, 6 Patrick Sio, 5 Pascal Papé, 4 Paul Gabrillagues, 3 Adrien Oleon, 2 Laurent Panis, 1 Zak Taulafo.
Replacements: 16 Dany Priso, 17 Zurabi Zhvania, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Alexandre Flanquart, 20 Jono Ross, 21 Julien Tomas, 22 Waisea, 23 Josaia Raisuqe.
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: David Wilkinson (Ireland), Olly Hodges (Ireland)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
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