Harlequins were determined to play running rugby from the start and a fine break in the first minute of the match by Mike Brown took play deep into the visitors’ half where Quins were awarded a penalty for an infringement at the breakdown. Jarvis duly took the points on offer.  Quins continued to attack and a fine kick to the corner produced a lineout close to the French line.  The French pack tried to catch and drive their way out of trouble, but when the ball came to Dominici he was bundled into touch.  Unfortunately, Quins lost the lineout that followed and the attack ended.

Despite facing opponents whose team included eleven international starting and four more on the bench, the relatively inexperienced Harlequins were demonstrating enterprise and determination and adventure in attack.  They defended strongly too and only a last ditch tackle, which put Arias into touch a couple of metres short of the try line, prevented an early French score. 

It was almost twenty-five minutes before they did score. A penalty allowed them to set up an attacking lineout close to Quins’ try-line.  The catch and drive was resisted but another penalty gave the French a second chance.  Staunch defence held them out for a while but the inevitable happened when Szarzewski dived over the ruck to score by the posts.  Skrela added the conversion.

It took Stade Francais only five minutes more to add to their score as a penalty allowed Skrela to take another three points and only a couple of minutes later they produced a fluent attack with the ball moved rapidly along the backs for Arias to score the second try and increase the lead to 3 – 17.

Quins continued to run the ball and ought to have had a try to finish the half, but Tom Williams ignored a three-man overlap outside him and decided to cut back inside and was cut down a couple of metres short of the line.

The second half was only a couple of minutes old when a quick ball from a ruck reached Tom Guest and he crossed the line in the left corner.  The television match official, to whom the question was referred, ruled that the ball had been knocked on.  Four minutes later he came to the same decision when Quins again appeared to have scored.  In between times the procession of substitutes substantially changed the personnel on both teams.

For a top side, Stade Francais made even more unforced errors than did Quins.  At the same time they appeared more dangerous when on the attack and only fine tackling and a slip on the damp turf that brought Dominici to earth prevented the French from further scores. Their errors were compounded when Skrela kicked a penalty dead and then Roncero was shown a yellow card for a professional foul.  Despite the reduction in the French team, Harlequins were unable to add to their score.  Another strong catch and drive by the pack failed to cross the French line.

The visitors resumed their attack and were gifted a soft try when a loose pass from their centre saw the ball run loose in empty space and only Skrela near enough and quick enough to gather the ball and coast through the huge gap to score under the posts and add the conversion for a lead of 3 – 24.

Four minutes later quick passing and incisive running saw Corleto at full speed running all of sixty metres for the fourth French try.  Again Skrela added the conversion.  Quins, however, did not give up and continued to exert pressure but not take chances. 

With a couple of minutes remaining, following a series of penalties and scrums, Keogh got across to score in the corner and a good conversion kick from Jarvis brought the score to 10 –31.  As the match moved into injury time a fine break, kick through and pick up by Tom Guest was stopped just short of the line and the subsequent assault by the pack was again referred to the television match official and ruled to have been held up.

Quins were never likely to win this encounter, given the firepower of the French champions and the team selected which was missing Easter, Gomarsall, Strettle, Monye, and the whole of the usual front row among others.  On another day some of the decisions that went against them could well have been ruled another way and a very different result might have ensued.

Dean Richards, after the match, was not displeased with the efforts of his team. “There's a huge amount of positives," he said. "We went into today's game with nothing to lose and everything to gain by playing some rugby. We didn't get the tries that we wanted - three times it went to the video referee - and they were all opportunities that we should have converted. But if we were not creating I would be far more worried. This group has been a great learning curve.”

"We have a relatively young side and we knew we were up against it. It was always going to be difficult for us to progress bearing in mind we were up against Cardiff, Stade Francais and Bristol. We wanted to get as much experience as we can and what we learnt is that you can't afford to turn over the ball in key areas. If they get a sniff they crucify you."

"We've drawn a line under this now," he added, "We're into the business end of the season now and we can concentrate on the league and solely on the league. We set out our stall to finish in a higher position than we did last year."

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