H-CUP: ROUND 4

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So the return H-Cup match yesterday was a very different affair from last week-end’s, in fact, a good old-fashioned game of English rugby: very rainy, very muddy, very physical, with ‘truck and trail’ tactics and sometimes brutal (sometimes ‘suspect’) defending and attacking .. in any case, it didn’t work for Stade; they lost 12-6. The Independent put it thus:

“This was a remarkable victory. A victory of substance over style, but no less special for that. Stade, blessed with all the attacking potency in the world in the shape of Mirco Bergamasco, Julien Saubade and the marvellous Juan Martin Hernandez, could not begin to find a way of breaking the shackles.”

The only positive thing is that Stade managed to get the defensive bonus point which means they are still top of their Pool. The next game is in January: against Neath-Swansea Ospreys ..