Stade Francais 29 Clermont Auvergne 25:Stade Francais secured their place in the Amlin Challenge Cup final with a hard-fought win over fellow French side Clermont Auvergne tonight.
Having led by nine points at half-time, Stade were given a late fright by Clermont who did everything bar peg their hosts back.
Lionel Beauxis and Morgan Parra traded early penalties, before Clermont's George Pisi nabbed the first try.
Julien Arias then crossed for Stade and Beauxis nailed three penalties as they took a stranglehold on the match, before Brian Russell got Clermont back in it.
Guillaume Bousses then scored another Stade try that left Jamie Cudmore's late effort for Clermont too little, too late.
Stade Français Paris: H Southwell;; J Arias (O Phillips 77), M Bastareaud, G Tiesi, G Bousses; L Beauxis, J Dupuy; R Roncero (D Weber 77), L Sempere (R Bonfils 24), D Attoub (R Slimani 63), T Palmer, P Pape, J Haskell, A Burban (J Leguizamon 18), S Parisse (capt)
Scorers: Tries: J Arias, G Bousses; Cons: L Beauxis 2; Pens: L Beauxis 5
Yellow Card:J Arias 52
ASM Clermont Auvergne:T Pisi (A Floch 60); W Fofana, A Rougerie (capt), M Joubert (G Canale 38-41, 62), K Murimurivalu; B Russell (K Senio 67), M Parra; V Debaty (L Faure 67), W Wepener (M Ledesma 58), D Zirakashvili (M Scelzo 67), J Pierre (S Lauaki 47), T Privat, J Cudmore, J Bardy (A Audebert 44), E Vermeulen
Scorers: Tries: T Pisi, B Russell, J Cudmore; Cons: M Parra 2; Pens: M Parra 2
Man of the Match:L Beauxis (Stade Français Paris)
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
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