Leicester come up short again against Stade Francais

European Cup Round-up: Twice former champions Leicester Tigers came up short in a low quality clash with Stade Francais at the Stade Charlety in Paris on Saturday. The teams have met five times in the tournament previously including once in the final, a game in which the Tigers prevailed.

This time it was Stade Francais that took the honours thanks to four penalty goals from scrumhalf Jerome Fillol to a brace from Leicester outhalf Andy Goode. There was more than a little indiscipline on both sides with Irish referee Donal Courtney giving both sides the benefit of the doubt before he eventually binned Leicester second row Ben Kay in the 77th minute.

Leicester, for whom the Irish triumvirate of Leo Cullen, Shane Jennings and Geordan Murphy started, did have one belated opportunity when Murphy surged through a gap but Alesana Tuilagi's decision to come back inside meant the Irishman had to chip the ball, an effort that was partially blocked and ultimately cleared.

The English side did manage to pick up a bonus point for losing by less than seven points and that leaves them on top of a closely contested Pool Three following Clermont Auvergne's victory over the Ospreys in France yesterday.

All four teams have now lost one of their two fixtures to date.

Saracens took control of Pool Four with a 30-17 victory over Benetton Treviso at Stadio Comunale di Monigo to go with their opening weekend win over Biarritz. The English side for whom Shane Byrne started didn't manage to get the bonus point but still lead the group as the only unbeaten team.

Bath have taken a firm grip on Pool Five following up their victory over Leinster at the RDS with a convincing demolition of Bourgoin at the Recreation Ground. They eked out a bonus point with tries from Matt Stevens, replacement James Hudson, captain Steve Borthwick and Danny Grewcock.

Leinster's away win at Hughenden allows them back into contention but they'll need home and away wins over Bourgoin in December as Bath should record a brace of wins over Glasgow.

In Pool Six Toulouse are in the box seat after their 15-15 draw with Wasps at the Causeway stadium while Llanelli kick started their campaign with a narrow 15-13 win over Edinburgh. The Scottish side managed a bonus point. Sale have nine points from a possible 10 following their thumping win over the Dragons at Rodney Parade while Munster did get their campaign back on track by thumping Castres. In Pool Two Leeds Tykes (bonus point) beat Calvisano 33-16 while Perpignan had little difficulty in beating Cardiff 37-14 (bonus point).