A test under the bell. A furious leader. An exalted stage. And a frustrated promotion. Long asleep, Stade Français reacted in the second half to bag a success (28-24) against Bayonne this Saturday at Jean-Bouin at the very last second on a try from Giovanni Habel-Küffner after a breakthrough from Léo Barré.
An almost desperate victory as the capital club struggled to get going during a duel between two teams deprived of competition for three weeks, due to the European Cup.
One action then nothing. An incursion and curtain. This is what the first half hour at Stade Français could be summed up as. After only a few seconds of play, the Parisians found themselves in a testing position, pounding three meters from the Bayonne goal line. The ball escaped them and the game with it. The counter was fired. The pink has faded. The players of Laurent Labit and Karim Ghezal passed away.
The Basques took advantage of this, developing rather well-polished rugby, both punchy and airy. Fullback Cheikh Tiberghien distinguished himself by planting two tries (7th, 28th) constructed in the same way. Pressure from the forwards near the goal then a ball spread around the three-quarter mark. The full-back even almost scored a third (17th) but Camille Lopez's pass turned out to be forward after using the video. After less than half an hour of play, Stade Français was trailing 17-0 on its home pitch...
The staff then decided to bring out Sekou Macalou (who returned to the field at the end of the match), who celebrated his 29th birthday in a funny way, his friend from the 3rd line Tanginoa Halaifonua and the pillar Sergo Abramishvili.
Until then non-existent, amorphous, the Parisians ended up reacting to a Bayonne gift: a ball kept on the ground, a penalty and a maul concluded victoriously by hooker Mickaël Ivaldi (35th, 7-17). A hope quickly dashed. On a defensive error, captain Paul Gabrillagues and his teammates let center Federico Mori slip away on trial (40th, 7-24), scrum half Brad Weber receiving a yellow card in the action for a high tackle.
Change of attitude in the second half. No doubt shaken in the locker room, the Parisians showed a completely different face. Toned, aggressive, they physically dominated their opponent. The tries of the 3rd line Romain Briatte (51st) then of the center Julien Delbouis (66th) allowed their team to pick up the score (21-24).
The promise of a thrilling end to the match in front of 18,522 spectators. Thrilling even. With this latest relaunch from Léo Barré, concluded with the essay under the siren of Giovanni Habbel-Küffner.
Dots
Stade Français: 4 tries Ivaldi (35th), Briatte (51st), Delbouis (66th), Habel-Küffner (80th), 4 conversions Henry (35th, 51st, 66th), Segonds (80th)
Bayonne: 3 Tiberghien tries (7th, 28th), Mori (40th), 3 Lopez conversions (7th, 28th, 40th), 1 Lopez penalty (19th)