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A sample of the video evidence used in the discipline hearing following the citing of Stade Francais's Juan Cruz Guillemain - 17/01/2013 11:39
Leicester Tigers’ stunning victory over Stade Français Paris on Sunday turned Pool 3 on its head and makes the Tigers hot favourites to qualify as Pool winners.
Stade have home advantage against the Ospreys as opposed to the Tigers’ trip to Clermont Auvergne – but they need everything to go their way to get past the English club.
Stade need to win with a bonus point and hope Leicester get nothing out of their trip to Clermont.
It was a memorable13-8 Round 1 victory at their new Liberty Stadium for Ospreys, the 9,408 crowd thrilled to see a home win against the pink-shirted visitors.
If the Ospreys can repeat the performance and win at the Stade Jean Boin, it will mean the end of Stade’s campaign.
But Stade are a supremely strong side at home, a fact that Ospreys coach Lyn Jones knows all to well.
“Stade Francais are one of the best sides in Europe and they still have everything to play for in the Heineken Cup,” he said.
“They will be looking for revenge after their defeat at the Liberty Stadium, but we showed significant improvements against Clermont last weekend and the players are keen to maintain performance levels this weekend”
“They have got strength in depth throughout their side with no obvious weaknesses. Our lineout and kicking game was solid against Clermont and we will again need to be on top of this aspect of our game if we are to secure a strong platform and territorial advantage.
“Playing Stade Francais in Paris is one of the biggest challenges in rugby and our players are looking forward to experiencing the unique French atmosphere in front of what I am sure will be an intimidating crowd”
Jones selection is restriced with ten players unavailable. Gavin Henson and Ian Evans are serving suspensions following the match against Leicester, but it is the injury list that has caused Jones the biggest headache
Wales international wing Shane Williams has a slight leg strain and Richard Pugh suffered a dead leg against Clermont last weekend in the Round 5 match, and are both unavailable.
Andy Lloyd (knee ligament) will possibly return against Glasgow next weekend. Brent Cockbain (hamstring), Ryan Jones (shoulder reconstruction) and David Bishop (fractured kneecap) are unlikely to play this season, while Barry Williams (back) and Paul James (neck) are under assessment.
- 26/09/1998 14:30
Stade Francais kept alive their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup with a devastating victory over the Ospreys in Paris.
The French champions ran in seven tries, two from replacement prop Yohan Montes after scores by Alain Penaud, Juan Hernandez, David Skrela, Benjamin Kayser and Pierre Rabadan.
That easily wrapped up a bonus point against the Welsh region but they will now have to wait and see if it is enough to clinch a place in the quarter-finals.
Stade went into this crunch game on the back of a disastrous week that saw their hopes of qualification to the quarter-finals take a severe double blow.
Their late defeat at Leicester cost them top spot in Pool Three before the ERC’s controversial ruling to award Leeds Tykes not only the victory from their postponed game against Calvisano but also a bonus point left them struggling to grasp one of the two places for the best runners-up should Leicester win at Clermont-Auvergne.
Stade knew they had to rack up a huge scoreline against the Ospreys to overhaul the four tries handed to Leeds and they had the bonus point in the bag by half-time.
Veteran outside-half Penaud got the Parisiens on their way inside seven minutes after Sylvain Marconnet had his earlier attempt ruled out by the video official.
Skrela kicked the conversion and then grabbed the second after 24 minutes, following devastating work by the Stade scrum, when he burst through Richard Mustoe’s tackle to score in the right corner.
Outside-half Shaun Connor got the Ospreys off the mark after half an hour with his third attempt at goal but it was a brief interlude in French flood.
Hernandez evaded Andy Newman’s grasp after running onto Skrela’s clever cross-field kick before hooker Kayser secured the bonus point, shoved over by both his props after Stade had declined a penalty in front of the posts for a 24-3 half-time lead.
The Ospreys managed to stem the tide as Stade rung the changes to their line-up but it was replacement Montes who break the deadlock, crashing over on 59 and 71 minutes as his side went in search of tries.
Ospreys replacement Matthew Jones ast least gave his side some respectability when he charged down Hernandez’ clearance to score five minutes from time only for Rabadon to be shoved over by the full weight of Stade’s pack to round off an emphatic display.
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