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There is bound to be a whiff of revenge in the air in Paris on Friday night when Stade Francais host Harlequins in a repeat of the 2011 Amlin Challenge Cup Final. - 02/04/2014 13:33
There is bound to be a whiff of revenge in the air in Paris on Friday night when Stade Francais host Harlequins in a repeat of the 2011 Amlin Challenge Cup Final.
On that occasion it was the Quins who came out on top, 19-18 at the Cardiff City Stadium, in a game that condemned the Parisians to their third defeat in a major European final. Last year’s 34-13 defeat to Leinster in Dublin merely rubbed salt into the wounds as they fell at the final hurdle a fourth time.
Harlequins are one of the teams coming into the last eight in the Amlin Challenge Cup from the Heineken Cup. They had to go to ASM Clermont Auvergne in their Pool this season and feel short, but they won in Biarritz and Toulouse in the previous two seasons.
They also managed to do the double over Stade in the Heineken Cup in the 2008/09 having lost twice to them the previous season.
Harlequins were English champions in 2012, but are languishing in sixth place in the Premiership table at present and need domestic points to push for a place in the play-offs. Brive have more or less secured their Top 14 survival and look to be out of the running for the play-offs.
The last team to beat Stade in Paris in the Amlin Challenge Cup was London Wasps in 2003. That shows how tough a task Conor O’Shea’s men face as they bid to reach their fourth final.
England prop Joe Marler gave the Quins a timely boost this week when he revealed he has agreed a year long extension to his contract and hopes to celebrate his 100th appearance with a victory.
Match Notes
- Stade Francais chose to kick the ball in open play on fewer occasions (14 per game) than any other club in the pool stage.
- The French club attempted an average of 78 tackles per game in the pool stage, fewer than any other team in the tournament.
- Jérôme Porical is the only player to qualify for the quarter-finals to have played every minute of the Amlin Challenge Cup during the pool stage.
- Porical was also the top points-scorer (83), landing 21 conversions and seven penalties as well as crossing for four tries.
- Mike Brown was the top metre maker in the pool stage of the Heineken Cup this season (565 metres).
- No one made more offloads (18) than Brown in the pool stage of the Heineken Cup.
- 10 of Stade’s tries in the pool stage came from scrums – more than any other club.
- The last time these sides met was in the 2011 Amlin Challenge Cup final, won 19- 18 by Harlequins at the death with a late Gonzalo Camacho try, converted by Nick Evans.
- That was the only meeting of the clubs in the Challenge Cup, but they have also played each other four times in the Heineken Cup, with both sides claiming two wins apiece.
- Stade have won 20 of their 22 home games in the tournament, only losing to London Wasps (2003) and London Irish (1997).
Nick Evans steered Harlequins into an all-English Amlin Challenge Cup semi-final as he notched 17 points in his side's 29-6 victory over Stade Francais Paris at Stade Jean Bouin. - 04/04/2014 22:44
Nick Evans steered Harlequins into an all-English Amlin Challenge Cup semi-final as he notched 17 points in his side’s 29-6 victory over Stade Francais Paris at Stade Jean Bouin.
In a repeat of the 2011 final, which Quins won with a last gasp try and touchline conversion, the decision by Gonzalo Quesada not to pick his top team certainly played a part in the home side’s downfall.
But his opposite number, Quins director of rugby Conor O’Shea, sent in his full compliment and told them to play with adventure. They tried and failed in a first-half of five penalties, but took a more direct route to victory in the second half.
Two penalties apiece from Evans and home outside half Morne Steyn meant the scores were level as the clock went into the red zone at the end of the first-half. But a penalty on the fringe of a ruck allowed Evans to land a 40 metre penalty to give his side a slender lead at the break.
Steyn missed with a second shot within two metres of the re-start before England full back Mike Brown struck the decisive blow of the game with a try in the 45th minute that owed everything to the direct, driving approach work of Dave Ward, Chris Robshaw and Nick Easter.
Evans added the conversion to increase the lead to 13 points and the only advantage Stade could manage was at the scrum. But they couldn’t turn that pressure into any more points, a third penalty going past the posts from replacement Vincent Mallet.
Evans added a penalty just before the hour mark to turn the screw tighter and then centre dropped a long range goal to make the game safe. The centre Tim Molenaar put the icing on the cake with a try three minutes from time which Ben Botica converted off the touchline.
Quins, who started the season in the Heineken Cup, are three time winners of the Amlin Challenge Cup and will now have to go to Franklin’s Gardens to try to stay on course for a fourth title.
There are three other English Premiership sides in the quarter-finals. Bath host Brive on Sunday and then London Wasps host Gloucester.
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