Stade Francais 26-20 Edinburgh: Scottish fightback falls short

Hugo Bonneval scored one of four-first half tries for the Parisians

Stade Francais kept alive their chances of qualifying for the Challenge Cup knock-outs with a 26-20 victory over previously unbeaten Edinburgh in the French capital on Thursday night.

Having fought their way back from 20-3 down at half time to beat Stade Francais 28-23 at Murrayfield last Saturday, Edinburgh were looking for a fourth straight win in Pool 5 in the reverse fixture on Thursday night.

However, Stade Francais proved a more difficult proposition in Paris as Edinburgh found themselves on the wrong end of a first half battering.

First, after 12 minutes, Stade Francais hooker Remy Bonfils muscled his way over the Edinburgh line following a lineout, before full-back Hugo Bonneval went over in the corner after a break by Josaia Raisuqe.

A penalty try and a yellow card for Edinburgh prop Simon Berghan soon followed, and just after the half hour mark Geoffrey Doumayrou ran free for the bonus-point score.

All Edinburgh had to show for their efforts was a Jason Tovey penalty as they went into the break 26-3 down, although referee Dudley Phillips did even up the yellow card count late on when he sin-binned Sylvain Nicolas for foul play.

Edinburgh took advantage of Nicolas' yellow card soon after the restart, with Hamish Watson setting up a try for lock Fraser McKenzie.

Jules Plisson slotted three of his four conversion attempts

However, Tovey hit the post with his conversion attempt and moments later the ball was knocked out of Blair Kinghorn's hands when it seemed certain he would score.  

Fijian replacement Viliame Mata did burst through a series of Stade Francais tacklers to score a second try for Edinburgh on 63 minutes, and scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne added a third try with a minute to go.

This time Duncan Weir, who had taken over the kicking duties from Tovey, hit the post and another two points were lost. Stade Francais hung on to take the match as Edinburgh were left to contemplate what might have been.

Stade Francais move on to 11 points from four games as a result, but remain in third place in Pool 5, behind Harlequins on 12 and Edinburgh on 14.

Harlequins have the chance to leapfrog Edinburgh on Saturday, when they entertain Romanian minnows Timisoara Saracens at Twickenham Stoop.