The Parisians rarely seemed to have Quins under sustained pressure inside their 22 but that’s not their style. They can score from anywhere. Quins gave a game performance against the cup favourites but Stade, despite apparently having 18 of their squad unavailable, still had so much quality on the pitch that they were able to get the bonus point win that they would have expected before kick-off.

Stade’s vast playing resources are summed up by one position. Their fly half on Saturday was David Skrela, who had a faultless match, kicking everything and running well. But also at the club are Lionel Beauxis and Juan Martin Hernandez, though rumours persist that he is off to Leicester. That is some serious depth. 

The contrast between the clubs is particularly stark in this position, given the continuing mixed form of Malone at fly half. Once again his boot-first-ask-questions-later game was able to engineer a try for Ugo in the left corner at the start of the second half but his distribution from hand still does not get the back line motoring. The Quins pack won plenty of ball for the three quarters but they rarely looked like breaking through decisively. Jarvis came on in the second half and should start the next game. 

A late try from De Wet Barry, who gathered his own kick through, helped improve the scoreline but the match had been settled 10 minutes earlier by Saubade’s score. The bonus point arrived with Mirco Bergamasco’s long range try on 79 minutes. Liebenberg and Dominici had put the French 17-3 up at half time. 

Alain Rolland is famously bi-lingual and often a favoured choice to referee matches involving French teams. On several occasions after infringements he put his language skills into prolonged action, delivering lectures to players and captains in both French and English. 

This was frustrating to watch from the sidelines because these breaks in play went on for an absolute age and then nothing happened. No cards, no warnings. It seemed he didn’t really have a grip on the match because there were at least two or three outbreaks of punches flying. Dominici’s try followed what looked like a neck tackle on Malone. Rolland obviously saw it differently. 

Likewise an obstruction on Volley from the restart after the first try. It’s an easy thing to blame the referee when your team starts to go behind but on this performance Rolland did seem to favour the home side in the 50:50s. Rare Quins penalties received very loud ironic cheers from the travelling fans who were also feeling hard done by.

When the scrapping stopped and Stade started playing rugby they proved too good for Quins but Paul Volley said afterwards that, for many in the team, it was their first taste of the Heineken Cup and they will have learnt a lot from the Paris trip. Indeed, they will feel they can give Stade a pretty tough return fixture if they stop turning over so much ball. However, getting out of the group stage for the first time still seems unlikely this season. 

There is one area where Quins seriously outclass the French club though. Stade Jean-Bouin is a pissoir of a stadium. The vantage point from the supposed top price seats was hopeless, the stewarding for access in and out of the ground a comical combination of bureaucracie and laissez-faire and the facilities in the gents were deeply unpleasant.

It’s bizarre that a club which can play such attractive rugby, and flaunts its physical perfections in its calendar (which caused a shopping stampede among the visiting female fans), bases itself in such a grotty fleapit. Thank goodness the sun started shining. Being there on a drab wet day would be a trial only a philosopher of Jean-Paul Sartre’s constitution would be able to handle.

Stade Français 37 Harlequins 17 (Half time 17-3)

Stade Français: Tries: Liebenberg, Dominici, Saubade, Bergamasco; Conversions: Skrela 2, Liebenberg 2; Penalties: Skrela 3

Harlequins: Tries: Monye, Barry; Conversions: Malone, Jarvis; Penalty: Malone 

Stade Français: N Jeanjean; J Saubade, Mirco Bergamasco, B Liebenberg, C Dominici; D Skrela (G Messina 65), J Fillol (T Bouhraoua 60); D Attoub (L Simutoga 31-40, 50), M Blin (capt, D Szarzewski 48), D Weber, B du Plooy, P Pape, Mauro Bergamasco, R Martin (L Charlon 80), S Parisse.?

Harlequins: M Brown; D Strettle, H Luscombe (T Masson 64), De W Barry, U Monye; C Malone (A Jarvis 76), A Gomarsall (S So'oialo 64); C Jones, T Fuga, M Ross, O Kohn, J Evans, C Robshaw, P Volley (capt, C Hala'Ufia 67), N Easter.

Referee: A Rolland (Ireland).

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