HOME SICKENER
Laidlaw leaves on a low as Stade win
TRY as he might, and he tried so, so hard, Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw just failed to lead his Gloucester team to European Challenge Cup glory at his beloved Murrayfield.
Coming on just after half-time, he was involved in one try and nearly set up another, while his box kicks caused Stade Francais all sorts of problems.
Laidlaw never gave up and his pass to Darren Dawidiuk started the move that saw Ross Moriarty score under the posts in the final minutes.
Billy Burns put over the extras but it was too little, too late for the English outfit as their French rivals triumphed.
It was a sad end to Laidlaw’s final game for Gloucester before the former Edinburgh star moves to Clermont Auvergne next season.
The only silver lining was that, to the relief of Lions coach Warren Gatland, he came through the match unscathed and will be fit to take his seat on the plane for the tour to New Zealand.
Laidlaw’s fellow Scotland international Matt Scott had a quiet game by his standards, his opposite number Geoffrey Doumayrou scoring the try with ten minutes to go that ultimately secured victory for Stade Francais.
A decent crowd of 24,459 watched a game which was decided up front, where the French club dominated. Their captain Sergio Parisse, in particular, put in a world-class performance.
Stade Francais started much the stronger, putting huge pressure on the Gloucester line. Only stout defending from hooker Richard Hibbard following numerous bursts by Parisse kept them out.
But the English side took the lead in spectacular fashion — and against the run of play.
Parisse played an exquisite pass over his back to Jonathan Danty. The Stade centre had Jonathan Ross outside him but his pass was picked off by Gloucester’s Jonny May, who ran in to score. Burns put over the extras and extended his side’s lead with a penalty. Scott was then penalised for playing the ball on the ground and, from the longrange penalty, Jules Plisson opened the French account. They drew level with a clever try made by Will Genia. Knowing he had already been awarded a penalty, he took the risk of putting in a clever chip-kick. Paul Gabrillagues knocked it back to an onrushing Parisse, who went over for the score. Plisson converted. On the half-hour mark, Gloucester were reduced to 14 men when captain Willi Heinz was yellow-carded for a late tackle on Plisson. Rather than bring on Laidlaw, who was on the bench to play at nine, they moved May in from the wing.
With two minutes left of the half, a mass brawl broke out that spread off the pitch and into the coaching areas. Remarkably, Irish referee John Lacey took no action.
He did give a penalty against Gloucester because flanker Lewis Ludlow had taken out Genia off the ball, but really should have shown him a yellow card.
The second half saw Laidlaw introduced for Heinz and his first contribution was a clever box kick that put his opponents on the back foot.
Plisson then missed a penalty before Laidlaw nearly set up a try. His clever high kick out wide was chased by Tom Marshall who out-paced Hugo Bonneval, only for the ball to run dead before he could touch down.
Marshall was caught out a few moments later when his pass was intercepted by Djibril Camara. The Gloucester full-back fell over as he tried to atone for his mistake which allowed Danty to run in for the try.
Stade replacement Morne Steyn, often reliable with the boot, missed a penalty with ten minutes left that would’ve given his team an eight-point lead.
But it didn’t matter as, moments later, centre Geoffrey Doumayrou brushed off two tackles to score. The former Springbok also put over the conversion.
With five minutes left, a Steyn penalty secured victory although Gloucester had a late Laidlawinspired flourish. His efforts found a hole in the Stade defence that led to Moriarty’s try but the clock was nearly in the red by then.