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L'edizione 2015/2016 dell'European Rugby Champions Cup inizierà in grande stile con la sfida al Welford Road
Stade Francais aim to return to winning ways in the European Rugby Challenge Cup when they welcome Timisoara Saracens at Stade Jean Bouin.
The Parisians slumped to defeat at Harlequins last week in this season’s opening fixture of European club rugby but have proved a different prospect at home.
Stade are unbeaten in their four games in the French capital this season with wins over high-flying La Rochelle, Castres Olympique and Grenoble as well as a draw against Clermont-Auvergne.
They will be desperate to make amends for their first half-display at The Stoop, branded their “worst 40 minutes of the season” by captain Sergio Parisse that saw them trail 31-7 at the break.
Stade did respond with second-half tries by scrum-half Clement Daguin and back-row Willem Alberts, after Sekou Macalou’s early effort, but they fell short of even claiming a consolation bonus in the 43-21 defeat.
“That was the worst first-half we have had this season. It was very disappointing and we are upset with our performance. We tried to score another try to get the bonus point in the second half, but we were really tired by then – they played very well and deserved to beat us,” said Parisse.
They will fancy their chances against the Romanians who suffered a baptism of fire in their first European fixture last week.
Timisoara were beaten 59-17 by Edinburgh in the Dan Paltinisanu Stadium though Stade will still be wary of the finishing abilities of Stephen Shennan after the former New Zealand rugby league international crossed in either half against Edinburgh.
Match Facts
- Stade Français have won 17 of their last 19 home Challenge Cup matches (L2).
- The previous eight meetings between Romanian opposition and Stade Français in the Challenge Cup have all resulted in victories for the French outfit.
- Stade have lost their last two Challenge Cup matches but have never lost three in a row in the competition.
- This will be Timisoara’s first away game in the competition. Only once in 19 attempts has a Romanian club won away against TOP 14 opposition in the tournament (Bucharest Wolves v Toulon in 2006).
Stade Francais Paris got back on track in Pool 1 as they ran in four tries to pick up a much needed bonus point in a patchy home win over Timisoara Saracens. - 20/10/2016 21:05
Stade Francais Paris got back on track in Pool 1 as they ran in four tries to pick up a much needed bonus point in a patchy home win over Timisoara Saracens.
Having conceded 59 points and nine tires against Edinburgh on their European debut last weekend on home soil, the Saracens would have travelled with a bit of fear and trepidation given the reputation and resource of the TOP 14 side.
But they emerged with huge credit for their effort over the 80 minutes as they restricted the Parisians to four tries. They tackled themselves to a virtual stand-still and had to spend 10 minutes with 14 men in the third quarter.
Jules Plisson dummied his way over in the second minute for the first home try to launch what everyone expected to be a points fest, but it didn’t turn out that way. Morne Steyn added the conversion and then kicked a penalty
Faraj Fartass then capped his debut with a 16th minute try after being called in at the last minute to replace Julien
Arias. Steyn again supplied the conversion, but the Springbok couldn’t provide the extras to a third try from Djibril Camara midway through the first half.
Having scored at more than a point a minute in the opening 20 everyone thought there would be more of the same as the game progressed, but as the Romanians settled into the pace of the game they thwarted the home effort for long and longer periods.
The scoreline stayed at 22-0 up to half-time and Stade were only able to add one more try in the second half, through Sylvain Nicholas in the 52nd minute, even though the Saracens lost Madalin Lemnaru to the sin bin on the hour.
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