Stade sweep Ulster aside

Stade Francais wrapped up a comprehensive 26-10 victory over Ulster in their opening Heineken Cup Pool 4 match on Saturday.

Stade's expert kickers Juan Martin Hernandez and Lionel Beauxis spearheaded the Paris club's dominant start to their European campaign while Guillaume Bousses and Dimitri Szarzewski added the tries which did the damage.

Ulster's Paddy Wallace capped a tireless performance with a neat try, but his score along with two Niall O'Connor kicks were the only blemishes on a superior Stade performance.

Argentine ace Hernandez gave a stellar performance at fly-half and was involved in everything good Stade did.

Quick tempo

In a free-flowing game, it was referee Nigel Owens that was struggling to keep up with the pace and required the physio to help with chest problems.

Owens soldered on as Stade enhanced their lead with military precision with Guillaume Bousses latched onto a Hernandez deft pass with 23 minutes on the clock.

Ulster burst into life on the half hour mark, and enjoyed a feast of possession in Stade's territory, but lacked the penetration to etch a score against a strong French outfit.

The second half picked up from where it left off with Ulster dominating the early goings through great inter-play from Paddy Wallace and Darren Cave, but the Irish side needed more patience when they approached the try line.

It wasn't until the 49th minute that Ulster scored their first points - a superb long-distance penalty kick courtesy of Niall O'Connor.

Against the run of play, a mix up in an Ulster line-out saw 17 stone Mathieu Bastareaud surging run result in Stade being rewarded with a try via the video ref after Dimitri Szarzewski reached for the line.

And full-back Beauxis converted the kick to round off a fine performance scoring 10 points during the game.

Tireless

Ulster's Paddy Wallace, who would have been the man of the match if he wore the loud pink and blue of Stade, saw his excellent efforts rewarded on 73 minutes when O'Connor received sub Cillian Willis' pass and delivered an expert chip which Wallace touched down.

Despite O'Connor's conversion, which gave Ulster a slightly more respectable double-figure score, it was the home side's last points as they began their European campaign suffering a master-class of kicking.

Ewen McKenzie's French side are sure to face sterner challenges ahead than the bottom side in the Magners League, but their strength up front and finishing ability should serve them well in as the tournament progresses.