Defending Top 14 champions Stade Toulousain saw off the
challenge of their Parisian rivals with a 15-11 home win, to
complete the league double over Stade Francais.
The
win, which followed their 26-13 triumph at the Stade de
France back in October, also took them back above temporary
leaders Perpignan as they regained top spot.
And
it would have been far more convincing but for the misfiring
boot of Frederic Michalak, who missed five of his eight
penalty kicks. The darling of Stade Toulousain even suffered
the indignity of being whistled by his home crowd after his
fifth wayward attempt - but even Michalak's profligacy
wasn't enough to spare Stade Francais.
Time and again they were penalised by English ref Dave
Pearson, eventually paying the penalty as Michalak landed
three kicks and Cedric Heymans one - in addition to Florian
Fritz's 18th-minute drop-goal.
It
all combined to give the hosts a comfortable 15-11 win, with
Stade Francais only gaining a consolation defensive point
when Mathieu Bastareaud capitalised on a late defensive
error to score the game's only try in the 79th minute.
Top 14 Table
/ Top 14 Fixtures
It
was the visitors' second consecutive defeat - after going
down 22-16 at Montauban in their last match - and leaves
Stade Toulousain seven points clear of their flamboyant
rivals.
And
all this after Stade Francais had started the night in
positive fashion, with discarded French fly-half Lionel
Beauxis slotting a first-minute drop-goal to give them an
early lead.
Michalak gave no hint of his travails to come when he landed
his first attempt, to level the scores after seven minutes,
and Fritz then squeezed over his own drop-goal to ease the
hosts ahead.
Pearson's whistle continued to frustrate Stade Francais, but
Michalak missed with his next three attempts, allowing
Beauxis to make it 6-6 going into half-time.
Shaun Sowerby (Toulouse) and Bastareaud (Francais) both saw
yellow just before the interval after a minor altercation,
and the home side regained the lead shortly after the
restart when Michalak finally found the target again.
His fifth miss, on 56 minutes, broke the
home crowd's patience, but the Stade Toulousain scrum-half
did extend their lead again eight minutes later as the
capital club continued to infringe to costly affect.
Heymans then secured the result by landing a 71st-minute
penalty and even though Bastareaud scored a late try (in the
79th minute) it merely served to give the frustrated
visitors a defensive bonus point. Beauxis missed the
conversion.
| |
Stade Toulousain |
Stade Francais |
| Tries |
- |
Bastareaud |
| Conversions |
- |
- |
| Penalties |
Michalak (3), Heymans |
Beauxis |
| Drop-goals |
Fritz |
Beauxis |