Stade progress in defeat

Stade Francais went down 9-7 to Edinburgh at a sodden Murrayfield but a losing bonus point was enough for the Parisians to finish top of Pool Four of the Heineken Cup.

Stade came into the match with a four-point lead over Ulster at the top of the pool and knew victory would guarantee them a quarter-final spot.

But Chris Paterson's three penalties allowed Edinburgh to sign off their European campaign with a morale-boosting win.

Ulster's failure to earn a four-try bonus point in their 28-10 win at Bath meant defeat by less than seven was sufficient for Stade, whose only points came from Pascal Pape's converted try in the first half.

Tight

Paterson opened the scoring with an early penalty but the Stade pack soon took control, initially revelling in the wet conditions.

The French side kept things tight, gradually wearing down the defence in methodical fashion before gaining their reward with a try in the 27th minute.

Second row Pape applied the finishing touch, picking up at the back of a ruck and running through Ross Rennie to touch down under the posts. Lionel Beauxis added the conversion to give the visitors a 7-3 advantage.

Rennie was substituted shortly afterwards after appearing to hurt his knee, a worrying development given the flanker only recently returned from a reconstruction of the joint following a year-long absence.

Edinburgh reduced their deficit to 7-6 at half-time when Paterson's trusty boot was again called into action in the 36th minute.

And the Scotland international full-back added his third successful kick in the 48th minute to put the home team back in front.

Heavy

The increasingly heavy pitch made for some error-strewn fare and Edinburgh's inability to turn promising positions into tries - a feature of their doomed European adventure - was once again in evidence after Greg Laidlaw was stopped just short following a quick tap-and-go.

Despite being camped close to the Stade line for more than five minutes, they could find no way through and eventually left empty handed when Jim Thompson, taking on the kicking duties after Paterson was substituted, missed a presentable penalty chance.

Thompson's miss, and another from Phil Godman with the last kick, did not matter in the end as Edinburgh comfortably closed out the win and, coupled with the UIlster result, everyone emerged from the Scottish capital happy.

Stade's final tally of 18 points means they face an away trip in the last eight.