HEINEKEN CUP QUARTER-FINAL/Toulouse 42 Stade Francais 16:JAMES HASKELL had to sit in a concrete trench at the front of the main stand kicking his heels as Stade Francais, who left the England flanker out of their squad one month after he was threatened with disciplinary action for remaining with England during a fallow weekend in the Six Nations, suffered another humiliating defeat against their rivals.
Stade fell apart in the final quarter. Jacques Delmas, the Stade coach, denied Haskell was being punished for putting England first. Whatever the reason for the decision, it backfired on Stade. Rabadan was hauled off at half-time. He was replaced by Taylor, leaving the Parisians with two number eights in their backrow, and they were not surprisingly overrun. Stade had led 7-0 midway through the first-half, the former Gloucester prop Rodrigo Roncero finishing off a move that started when Mathieu Bastareaud trampled through David Skrela, but Toulouse softened them up.
Julien Arias summed up the ordinariness of his side when his half-hearted tackle on Yannick Jauzion led to the try that allowed Toulouse to pull away on the hour. They were 19-16 ahead having scored a fortunate try with the last move of the opening half. It was well-claimed by Jauzion but his pass to Cedric Heymans in the build-up had been several metres forward. The third quarter saw Skrela and Lionel Beauxis share four penalties.
When he broke down the left wing, Arias, deceived by Jauzion’s late step, flapped ineffectually, Jauzion made another 25 metres, Toulouse drove into Stade’s 22 and Patricio Albacete profited from Daan Human’s flick pass to stretch his side’s lead to 10 points. Toulouse added another try through Heymans and Skrela landed his seventh penalty.
TOULOUSE: Poitrenaud, Clerc, Fritz, Jauzion, Heymans, Skrela, Kelleher, Poux, Servat, Lecouls, Millo-Chluski, Albacete, Bouilhou, Dustautoir, Picamoles. Replacements: Medard for Poitrenaud (67), Bezy for Kelleher (73), Human for Poux (50), Johnston for Lecouls (41), Maestri for Millo-Chluski (41), Lamboley for Albacete (71), Sowerby for Picamoles (50). Not Used: Lacombe.
STADE FRANCAIS: Southwell, Arias, Bastareaud, Gasnier, M. Bergamasco, Beauxis, Oelschig, Roncero, Szarzewski, Marconnet, Palmer, Pape, Burban, Rabadan, Leguizamon. Replacements: Messina for Southwell (57), Mieres for Arias (72), Slimani for Roncero (63), Marchois for Szarzewski (62), Gerber for Marconnet (73), Kayser for Burban (60), Taylor for Rabadan (41). Not Used: Tardy. Sin Bin: Taylor (70).
Referee: A Lewis (Ireland).
