Heineken Cup

Four tries in the opening half an hour set Stade Francais on the road for a comfortable 31-7 victory over Edinburgh in their Pool 3 Heineken Cup clash in Paris on Saturday afternoon.

Right wing Julien Arias set the tone for the game with his fantastic individual effort after just seven minutes of the match. The French wing skinned Phil Godman after a turnover and raced home.

It didn't though take long for the home side to extend their lead. Just two minutes after Arias opener No.8 Sergio Parisse added his own name to the score sheet. Arias again was involved, making the break before feeding the Italian captain.

Finally then the Gunners came into the game. Enjoying their best spell of possession they are awarded a kickable penalty but choose rather to go for the lineout. It was a poor decision though as the lineout is adjudged to be not straight and the home side are allowed to clear their lines.

23 minutes into the match and Stade had try number three - second row Pascal Pape showed great vision to run a good line and received a well timed pass from Lionel Beauxis. The French star cut through the Gunners line and ran 15m to score.

Beauxis was next. The star No.10 had total control of the game and on the half hour mark he got his own try.

With all four conversions completed by Julien Dupuy the hosts took a commanding 28-0 lead into the break.

Mike Blair and Tom Visser started the second half brightly, putting the Gunners on the front foot and looking to get the team on the scoreboard. Continuing to turn down penalties, Rob Moffat's has the momentum but still could not get over the tryline.

Replacement scrumhalf Noel Oelschig almost went over for try number five after 55 minutes but the TV ref did not award it - giving Stade a 5m scrum instead.

Taking the points when offered them, Oelshig added a penalty on the hour mark to take the score up to 31-0.

Edinburgh were certainly finishing the game the stronger of the two sides. Coming close on a couple of occasions they eventually went over eight minutes from time. Centre Ben Cairns crashed over.

Godman added the two points for the conversion but the Gunners were really just benefiting from the disruption caused by the number of substitutions Stade Francais had made in a short space of time.

The win is the perfect start to the Heineken Cup for Stade Francais - five points and, perhaps more importantly, a good performance and a confidence boost for the under-fire French giants.

The Scorers

For Stade Francais

Tries: Arias, Parisse, Pape, Beauxis
Pen: Oelshig
Cons: Dupuy

For Edinburgh

Tries: Cairns
Cons: Godman

The teams:

Stade Français: 15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Julien Arias, 13 Guillaume Bousses, 12 Geoffroy Messina, 11 Mark Gasnier, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Antoine Burban, 6 James Haskell, 5 Pascal Pape, 4 Tom Palmer, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Mathieu Blin, 17 Damien Weber, 18 David Attoub, 19 Arnaud Marchois, 20 Benjamin Kayser, 21 Noel Oelschig, 22 Mirco Bergamasco, 23 Ollie Phillips.

Edinburgh: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Mark Robertson, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 John Houston, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Allister Hogg, 7 Roddy Grant, 6 Alan MacDonald, 5 Scott MacLeod, 4 Jim Hamilton, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen
Replacements: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 Ryan Grant, 19 Steve Turnbull, 20 Scott Newlands, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 Nick De Luca, 23 Steve Jones

Date: Saturday, October 10
Venue: Stade Jean-Bouin
Time: 14.35 (12.35 GMT)
Referees: Nigel Owens (Wales)