Any lingering hopes that Bath may have had of qualifying from pool four of the Heineken Cup disappeared in the mud of the Stade Jean Bouin, as they lost to Stade Français.
“It was disappointing to lose on this cabbage patch but we asked for a massive effort and we got it,” Steve Meehan, the Bath head coach, said. “It just wasn’t quite enough,” After Julien Arias, the France wing, touched down twice in the first half, Michael Claassens put Bath back in the game, capitalising on an error from Lionel Beauxis.
Bath, however, were closed out by some fine Stade defence, which left Meehan turning his attention back to the Guinness Premiership, where Bath are two off the bottom.
“Now we have to make sure that we qualify for next season’s Heineken Cup,” Meehan said. “Over the last six weeks we have performed a lot better and we have two good players [Butch James and Olly Barkley] to come back from injury.”
Scorers: Stade Français: Tries: Arias 2 (24min, 34). Conversion: Beauxis (34). Penalty goal: Beauxis (3). Bath: Try: Claassens (36). Conversion: Little (36). Penalty goals: Little 2 (19, 41).
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Scoring sequence (Stade first): 3-0, 3-3, 8-3, 15-3, 15-10 (half-time), 15-13.
Stade Français: L Beauxis; J Arias, M Bastareaud, G Messina, M Bergamasco; I Mieres, H Southwell; R Roncero, S Szarzewski (rep: B Kayser 52), S Marconnet, T Palmer, P Pape, J Haskell, P Rabadan (A Burban 41), J M Leguizamon.
Bath: J Maddock; M Stephenson (rep: J Cuthbert 56), M Carraro, S Hape, M Banahan; N Little (rep: R Davis 63), M Claassens; D Flatman (rep: D Barnes 76), L Mears (rep: P Dixon 26-40; rep: P Dixon 74), D Wilson (rep: A Jarvis 76), P Short (rep: S Hooper 63), D Grewcock, A Beattie (rep: B Skirving 74), J Salvi, L Watson.
Referee: A Lewis (Ireland)