It hasn’t always been pretty, but it’s effective. Stade Français, which sometimes suffered against Pau on Saturday afternoon, offered itself a fifth victory in a row in the Top 14 by dominating (25-12) the Béarnais at Jean-Bouin. An improved success which allows it to remain at the top of the championship in the company of Stade Toulouse, title holders. And to take a further step towards a second qualification in a row for the final phases.
If some big names have to deal with the absences of their internationals, preserved between two matches of the Six Nations Tournament, Stade Français can take advantage of Sekou Macalou. Shunned by Fabien Galthié, the Parisian third row of the capital club scored a double against the Pau Section. First a 40-meter try in the first period (26th), where he erased four opponents before going to flatten in the in-goal. Then a second at the very end of the match to confirm a victory in a match which ended up going towards the men of Laurent Labit and Karim Ghezal.
A week after its victory in the derby against Racing 92, Stade Français relied on the power of its pack to make the difference in the second half, with two tries scored in the wake of a throw-in by its hooker Lucas Peyresblanques (45th) and his second row Romain Briatte (62nd). And if the Béarnais missed the penalty which would have allowed them to get back to 18-15 five minutes from the end, the Parisians did not fail to punish them with this interception and this final try from their third international line in the last moments (80th).
Paris is now provisionally eleven points ahead of third, Castres, dominated (33-6) by Stade Toulouse in the afternoon. A nice mattress before moving on Saturday to the lawn of La Rochelle, a double reigning European champion who should be deprived of his Blues Grégory Alldritt and Uini Atonio and of Jonathan Danty, suspended.
