French Top 14 round-two: Stade Francais powers past La Rochelle
Stade Francais had no problem winning its second match in as many games at home against La Rochelle over the weekend.
Stade Francais put over five tries to power past La Rochelle. Rochelle was able to get off to a strong start taking a four-point lead into half time. However, Stade closed the gap quickly in the second stanza and then put over three quick tries to open up a commanding lead midway through the second half. In the end the offensive ability of Stade proved to be too much and they cruised to a 41-26 victory.
Recap
Stade Francais opened the scoring with a penalty from Julien Dupuy in the 14th minute to give the home side a 3-0 lead.
La Rochelle was quick to answer back however, by way of a Florian Ninard try in the 16th minute, giving the visitors the lead at 5-3.
Full-back Maxime Lebourhis then opened up the lead even further hitting two penalties in a row in the 18th and 24th minutes respectively, extending the advantage to 11-3.
Stade recorded their first try of the day when centre Mathieu Bastareaud darted his way over the whitewash in the 26th minute, and after a Dupuy conversion the lead was cut to 11-10.
Lebourhis tried to keep his team in front with a third penalty, giving them a 14-10 lead heading into half-time.
After the break Stade began to take over the game. They started with a try from Ollie Phillips in the 44th minute, which was capped off by a conversion from Dupuy giving the hosts a 17-14 advantage.
La Rochelle attempted to keep pace with a try from winger Thomas Combezou in the 48th minute, giving his side back the lead at 19-17.
However, it would never be enough as Stade went on an impressive 10-minute offensive run that garnered them three tries, a penalty and three conversions to make the game 41-19 for the home side.
Combezou crossed the line for his second try of the day in the 73rd minute, but it was too late. The hosts closed out an impressive 41-26 victory over La Rochelle.
Stade Francais took some time to get going, but when they did La Rochelle was at their mercy. With little to show for an average first-half effort, Stade poured on an impressive four tries in the second half to win a come-from-behind victory at home.
Analysis
Stade Francais moves to the top of the table with two wins and a bonus point. If they are able to keep up their strong form they could challenge Toulon and Toulouse for Top 14 supremacy.
Meanwhile, La Rochelle was unable to convert on another upset like round one, and although they had a strong start they were not able to maintain their solid defensive play throughout the entire 80 minutes.
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