Bath's hopes go down the drain with last-minute loss to Stade Français

HEINEKEN CUP ROUND-UP: FORMER LEICESTER Tigers scrumhalf Julien Dupuy broke Bath hearts at The Recreation ground yesterday by landing a last-minute penalty to help Stade Français to a 29-27 victory.

The defeat all but ends the English club’s hopes in Pool Four as they lost 26-12 to Ulster in the opening round of fixtures and no club has qualified for the play-offs after losing their first two matches.

Nicky Little and Matt Carraro powered over for tries in quick succession to put Bath in command at the interval, with the Fijian outhalf kicking five penalties as well. Dupuy had kicked six to keep Stade in touch – Lionel Beauxis dropped a goal – before England Sevens specialist Ollie Phillips scored a brilliant try in the dying minutes.

When Dupuy missed the difficult conversion it looked like the French side would come up agonisingly close, but Bath conceded a needless penalty after Little had a long-range drop goal attempt charged down and the Stade scrumhalf showed an ice-cool nerve.

The Ospreys nearly managed for a second week in succession to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in a thoroughly entertaining Pool Three encounter with Clermont Auvergne at the Liberty Stadium. The Welsh side led Leicester by 18 points at one point last week before the Tigers rallied to snatch a 32-32 draw, while yesterday the Ospreys were ahead 22-3 at the interval before squeaking home 25-24.

Ireland’s Tommy Bowe scored one of their three tries and helped to create another in a stirring first-half display from the home side. Their French opponents responded with three tries after the interval, and it took a nerveless penalty on 63 minutes from Ospreys outhalf Dan Biggar to decide the outcome.

In the same pool Leicester Tigers travelled to Viadana and emerged with a bonus point, 46-11 win over their hosts. Fullback Scott Hamilton grabbed a hat-trick of tries to add to further scores from Ireland’s Johne Murphy, Tom Croft, Lucas Amorosino and a penalty try.

Coach Richard Cockerill enthused: “They made the game really hard for us and we must give them huge credit for that. Any side who comes here and thinks they can just turn up will come unstuck. It was a hard, physical battle for us. It was frustrating and disjointed at times but we took our tries really well.

“We have found from experience in Italy that you have to be patient, go through the phases and take your opportunities.”

Meanwhile Gloucester’s Heineken Cup hopes were dealt a heavy blow following a 42-15 defeat against Biarritz Olympique in Pool Two. Takudzwa Ngwenya scored three tries as Biarritz ran in five to secure a bonus-point victory at Parc des Sports Aguilera. Tom Voyce and Jake Boer both went over in the second half to save Gloucester from a humiliating scoreline, but further tries by Ayoola Erinle and Valentin Courrent ensured Biarritz were rarely troubled.

Toulouse staged a remarkable comeback to recover from being 14-0 down to Harlequins at the Stoop to run out 23-19 winners. They lost prop Jean Baptiste Poux and Yannick Nyanga to injury early on and conceded three penalties to Quins outhalf Nick Evans and a try to wing Ugo Moye. The French side recovered primarily through opportunist tries from Yves Donguy and Shawn Sowerby, with Jean Baptiste Elissalde, Freddie Michalak and Florian Fritz all contributing with the boot.