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Stade Francais 27 Sale Sharks 16

Jenny Dixon in Paris
11/12/2006

PHILIPPE Saint-Andre returned from France a proud man despite Sharks 27-16 Heineken Cup defeat at the hands of Stade Francais.

The Gallic director of rugby was forced to field a team devoid of four key players - a number which rose to five during Sunday's match in Paris, Mark Cueto the latest international victim of Sale's injury curse.

Despite a significantly reduced armoury Sharks crept to within four points of Stade thanks to a momentous effort from Sebastien Chabal who intercepted a pass charged unopposed from the halfway line to score after 71 minutes.

Sharks were trailing 17-6 at the break, having conceded three tries - a brace by Christophe Dominici, the other from Julien Saubade.

The 44,000 strong record crowd did not just boost the home side, however, after half-time Sharks' attempted a heroic fightback at the packed Parc des Princes.

Lee Thomas, who for a second week took over kicking duties from out-of-sorts flyhalf Daniel Larrechea, posted a penalty and his conversion of Chabal's individual effort put Sharks within striking distance and the promise of a bonus point.

But Sharks hopes of leaving Paris with a minimum of one point were dashed minutes later when Saubade intercepted a pass by Richard Wigglesworth and crossed the whitewash for a second time.

Full report in this week's Express, with picture gallery and audio clips here on www.stockportexpress.co.uk soon