Top 14: Stade Francais beat Brive 20-17 to stay unbeaten at home

Stade's opening try scorer Waisea Vuidravuwalu makes a break against Brive

A tremendous late fightback by the Brive forwards denied Stade Francais a bonus point as the Parisians kept their Top 14 unbeaten home record intact.

Stade scored three first-half tries but Brive made the most of a man advantage following a sin-binning to score a late try and penalty that earned them another bonus point on their travels.

The opening score came after the Stade forwards turned over the ball in their own 22 following a promising Brive break and it was flicked out loosely from the breakdown.

Fijian winger Waisea Vuidravuwalu picked up the bouncing ball on a great angle and at pace to burst through several flailing tackles. In a race for the line he was tackled just short but managed to slide and stretch over the line for an unconverted try.

Brive soon hit back with two penalties from fullback Gaetan Germain to go a point ahead.

Stade prop Sakaria Taulafo and his opposite number Damien Jourdain were then sent to the bin in the 20th minute after the referee got frustrated with repeated front-row misdemeanours.

France back-rower Raphael Lakafia, who rejoined Stade in October, claimed their second try when he picked up and carried over after a defensive Brive scrum wheeled but disintegrated under pressure.

A controversial third try followed. Despite a blatant forward pass in their own half, the Stade backs kept the ball alive in the tackle for centre Meyer Bosman to score in the corner, converted by scrum-half Julien Dupuy.

Fightback

Brive could feel a little aggrieved at the scoreline, with some great lines being run all game. Tongan Alfi Mafi made one particularly clever break down the right early in the second half, nearly reaching his own chip forward over the line.

Ten minutes after the turnaround, Germain brought the gap down to eight points with his third penalty for the visitors but that was soon cancelled out by Dupuy.

Nine minutes from time, a tremendous forward drive took Brive to within a few metres of the Stade line, and was only halted by Nicolas Garrault illegally pulling it to the ground, for which he was yellow-carded.

The Brive pack made the most of the numerical advantage, driving over from a clean lineout catch by substitute Said Hireche, fellow replacement Karlen Asieshvili claiming the try.

The crucial conversion was missed off the upright by Germain but a few moments later his driving forwards gave him another chance, forcing Stade to give away a penalty. Germain kicked it cleanly, putting them three points behind but more importantly, qualifying Brive for a vital losing bonus point.

Without really firing on all cylinders so far this season, the win keeps Stade in third place in the table after round 12, just two points behind leaders Toulon.

Brive went into the match buoyed by a good recent run including their previous game, a 25-10 victory at Montpellier, their first away win of the season, but the loss in Paris leaves them two points above the two relegation places.

You can watch the highlights of the Top 14 round 12 matches in France on Sky Sports 3 from 8am on Monday, or On Demand.