Bayonne stunned Stade Francais 38-24 in the first ever Top 14 game played on foreign soil on Friday night.
Paris giants stunned in San Sebastian on Friday
Bayonne stunned Stade Francais 38-24 in the first ever Top 14 game played on foreign soil on Friday night.
The Estadio Anoeta in San Sebastian, Spain housed 32,000 spectators on Friday as Bayonne toppled the giants of Stade Francais.
Winger Benjamin Fall touched down twice as the Basque hosts outscored the Parisian 'tourists' four tries to two for their first win of the season.
With a festive atmosphere inside the stadium, Bayonne took on their opportunities in a heated, hard-fought battle between two evenly matched sides.
Although the game was marred by a number of handling errors from both teams, the massive crowd got their money's worth from the six-try show.
Try
Bayonne full-back Jean-Baptiste Peyras was first to strike with the try of the game, and probably the season so far, as he slalomed through the Stade defence to score a brilliant solo try from 50m out.
The Basques moved further ahead when Fall took advantage of a passive Lionel Beauxis with a chip and chase to score under the posts.
In similar fashion to their display against Perpignan a week ago, Bayonne's lack of concentration costs them a try as James Haskell barged over to score. Beauxis reduced the gap with a smart drop-goal to put the Parisians back in the game.
Stade Français continued in cool-headed fashion and took the lead when centre Geoffroy Messina crossed the whitewash on the half-hour mark.
It took an opportunistic try for Fall on the stroke of half time to wake Bayonne up as the teams headed for the changing rooms with the Basques leading 19-18.
In the second period Beauxis punished Bayonne's over enthusiasm at the rucks as a place-kicking duel started between the Stade fly-half and opposing scrum-half Benat Arrayet.
As the game progressed Bayonne slowly gained the upper hand as they began to find some sort of organisation in a chaotic match.
In the final minutes Stade Francais threw the kitchen sink at the sky-blue defence, but a counter attack for Pepito Elhorga, who dribbled the ball to the opposite try-line sealed the deal for Bayonne.
Thus Stade Francais head back to Paris empty handed and with just two points to show from there opening two matches - not ideal for their title ambitions.
