Stade are heading in right direction

IS there an early winter equivalent to the idiom about solitary swallows and the impending arrival of summer? Because – whatever it might be, something involving snowflakes, perhaps, or frosts – that’s the situation at Stade Francais right now.

- JAMES HARRINGTON

Three wins in their first nine matches; upheaval in the coaching set-up, with ex-head coach Karim Ghezal replaced by Paul Gustard; a misfiring attack – even after putting on 40 points last weekend, they remain the fourth-worst in the Top 14; an uncertain defence – the third worst in the league; and last season’s push to a semi-final already a memory so distant it could even have the sense of a mirage.

And then… last Sunday evening, two weekends before their Champions Cup campaign kicks off at Thomond Park against Munster – another team working through a few managerial issues, suddenly Stade Francais came good against an error-ridden Racing 92 at Stade Jean Bouin.

It was the first time in nine meetings at home that Stade had got the better of their derby rivals. That, alone, meant something.

“For weeks we’ve talked a lot about our attack,” centre Julien Delbouis told Canal Plus at half-time last Sunday, after that misfiring attack scored four tries, three of them in seven eye-opening minutes just before the break, “and this is the first time all season that we’ve really seen it work.”

Stade scored twice more in the second half to claim their second five-pointer in as many home games and leap up the table from 13th to 10th. Only Vannes’ ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against Bordeaux 24 hours earlier meant that the Parisian side didn’t kick off their home derby at the bottom of the table.

A little reality now. Those 10 points in their last two home games, moved them from nine to 19 points.

Those six tries in one match increased their try tally for the season by 25 per cent.

They picked up nothing from their trip to La Rochelle between the wins over Racing and Clermont. The maths, then, is simple, and shows just how far off the pace Stade Francais really are right now.