The French giants, who have contested three European finals, took control of this Pool 5 contest early on and had it as good as won by the break when they led 35-16.

Any hopes of the Exiles making an early impact vanished in the first minute when Paris hooker Remi Bonfils crashed over for the first of his two tries.

Outside-half Gavin Henson had the honour of scoring London Welsh’s first points in Europe with the first of four penalties and hooker Greg Bateman was the club’s first try scorer when he went over in the 30th minute.

Outside centre Waisea Vuidarvuwalu collected two tries in eight minutes midway through the first half and, with another score from Hugo Bonneval, Stade’s try bonus point was under lock and key by the break.  

Classy full back Bonneval was relishing his scoring opportunities while outside-half Felipe Contepomi – who scored 348 points for Leinster in his spell in Dublin – punished the Exiles with the boot to end up with 25 points that included a 75th-minute try for good measure as the second half turned into one-way traffic as the Exiles leaked a total of nine tries.