Paris

BEFORE THE MATCH IN PARIS, few thought that Gloucester had any chance of winning the Heineken Cup game with Stade Francais —only Munster have ever managed to win at Stade Jean Bouin.
At half-time it seemed as if Gloucester could well be in with a very real chance of causing an upset over the cosmopolitan collection of internationals who are champions of French rugby, with the visitors 11-10 in front.
Sadly after an hour Stade had wrapped up the bonus point, adding 29 points in 20 minutes without reply from Gloucester, as the home side profited from a series of mistakes which led to the almost inevitable line out catch and drive and a powerful rolling maul which disintegrated the defence.
In simple terms Gloucester had no answer to the Stade driving maul. Their French international prop Sylvain Marconnet profited with a brace of tries from such tactics and ex Bristol scrum half Argentinian Augustin Pichot also got in on the act with a pair.
Gloucester coped reasonably well in the scrummage but the pack struggled in the line-out as the game progressed and is not quite up to top standard at the highest level. Alex Brown needs to be partnered by a true specialist lock forward, rather than a succession of makeshift back-row journeymen.
Although David Skrela dropped an early goal for Stade, Henry Paul levelled the scores with a penalty kick and Gloucester started well with both Marcel Garvey and James Simpson-Daniel shredding the Stade defence in the early stages.
A good piece of work by Sinbad freed up hooker Ollie Azam who found enough space to put James Forrester away to score from 25 yards. Gloucester should have had more points on the board as Marcel prised opened up the defence but Duncan MacRae lost his way and the chance was gone.
Sinbad then drew the defence with a weaving run in almost coaching manual fashion, gave Terry Fanolua the ball in font of the posts, only for him to fumble and knock-on with the line at his mercy. Terry never has been renowned for his passing or handling but such an error deprived Gloucester of going into a vital early lead and possibly securing a landmark result.
The Cherry and Whites had their chances but fluffed them and were made to pay as a series of line-outs on the Gloucester ended with a driving maul to the line where Pichot was on hand to wriggle under MacRae to score the first try for Stade which Skrela converted. Henry Paul fortunately had his kicking boots on and kicked a fine long-range penalty to edge the visitors back into the lead. 11-10 at the break - only a one point lead, instead the of the twenty odd points it should have been.

Gloucester were first to score after the interval when H.P slotted another penalty but that was as good as it got as the next quarter of the game was an absolute disaster with a succession of mistakes which were all punished mercilessly by the Stade forwards. Stade began to establish superiority and as their driving forwards took over Marconnet burrowed over. But the undue length of time Skrela took with his attempted conversion allowed John Goodridge to charge the kick down.
Things went from bad to worse as Pichot squeezed over again for a converted try after Henry Paul had knocked on a poor pass from the inconsistent MacRae.
Within minutes Marconnet, true to form, was driven over for his second try and when Italian centre Mirco Begemasco went straight through a paper tissue tackle from MacRae the Stade score had rocketed to 39.
Fair play to Gloucester they kept on trying and although there was no glory, Sinbad did provide a gloss finish with two very good tries, one on each side of the field. H.P. converted both and he too had a good game save for one costly error which typified the afternoon—too many missed chances missed in the first half and too many mistakes in the second.
Terry Fanolua had an afternoon best forgotten and Duncan MacRae was once again inconsistent, good and bad in the same match. Ollie Azam left with a hand injury but Phil Vickery stayed on for the majority of the match but still has some way to go get in to full match trim.
For Gloucester it was a case of if only they had taken their chances to wrap the game up in the first half—who knows? Ifs and buts count for nothing in sport, the game was very much a missed opportunity.
Further progress will be difficult, especially as bonus points are particularly elusive for Gloucester this season.
The Stade have secured their first bonus point in the bag on a firm dry pitch. It will be interesting to see how they perform away from home in the middle of a wet winter.
Stade may have been short of some key players but they still fielded eleven full internationals, however there is no doubt Gloucester missed out badly and were made to pay the ultimate price for a catalogue of missed chances in the first half and too many mistakes in the second. Basic errors but costly errors.
Such lapses are the difference between winning and losing and that is why the Stade supporters were chanting ‘Here we go, here we go’, at the finish.
A good game but a disappointing result for Gloucester, perhaps we need travel sickness pills for trips away from Kingsholm?


Stade Jean Bouin - Paris		Saturday 23 October 2204
	Cherry and Whites fail in France
	Gloucester rue mistakes
	Stade Francais 39 Gloucester 31

Cherry and Whites fail in France

Gloucester rue mistakes

Stade Francais 39 Gloucester 31

Referee - A. Roland, Ireland Attendance 10,000

Referee - A. Roland, Ireland
Attendance 10,000