-
A dominant first half was enough for Stade Francais to record a bonus-point win against Edinburgh
-
Tries from Remy Bonfils, Hugo Bonneval, Penalty and Geoffrey Doumayrou gave the French side a convincing 26-3 lead at halftime
-
Edinburgh fought back after the restart with scores from Fraser Mckenzie, Viliame Mata and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne
Stade Francais blitzed their way to a try-scoring bonus-point in the first half before Edinburgh came storming back to claim a losing bonus-point in Paris.
After a prolonged period of pressure, Stade Francais opened the scoring through hooker Remy Bonfils. Fly-half Jules Plisson then added the extras to give the hosts a seven-point lead.
Jason Tovey narrowed the deficit with a three-pointer but the home side replied with their second try of the game through France international full-back Hugo Bonneval. This time Plisson fired his conversion wide, 12-3.
Stade Francais were then awarded a penalty try following an Edinburgh scrum offence. Plisson again adding the extras.
Things then went from bad to worse for the Scots as Simon Berghan was shown a yellow card for the scrum infringement before centre Geoffrey Doumayrou scored the home side’s fourth touchdown of the night soon after to secure the try-scoring bonus-point.
Plisson again converted to give the home side a dominant 26-3 lead at the break.
Edinburgh needed to regroup at the break, knowing a defeat would open the door to Harlequins to go top if they beat Timisoara Saracens.
That they did as the Scots looked a different team in the second period, with tries from lock Fraser McKenzie and replacement Viliame Mata in the 46th and 62nd minute reducing the arrears down to 26-15. Suddenly it was game on at Stade Jean Bouin as Edinburgh pushed hard.
But as time ticked on an incredible win seemed unlikely with only a try from scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne with a minute to play managing to give a gutsy Edinburgh side a losing bonus-point for their efforts, which could well come in handy at the conclusion of the pool stages.
