London Wasps V Stade Francais

London Wasps finally beat bogey side Stade Francais as they ran in four tries at Adams Park to give themselves a great chance of reaching the PARKER PEN CHALLENGE Cup semi-finals.

Those tries from Stuart Abbott, John Rudd, Lawrence Dallaglio and Fraser Waters gave the English side a 13-point lead to take to Paris on Saturday for the second leg of this quarter-final.

At one stage the Wasps' advantage was 16 points, after Waters' 75th minute try, but a dropped goal with the last kick of the game from Stade's Italian international outside half Diego Dominguez cut the French side's deficit to less than two scores.

Two early penalty goals from Alex King sent Wasps into a 6-0 lead before Dominguez replied with the first of his four penalties.

Then a try by full back Nani Corleto was converted by Dominguez to put Stade ahead for the first time midway through the first half.

A long distance penalty goal from ken Logan closed the gap to a point before Dominguez hit the mark again with his second penalty.

The game then turned in Wasps favour with two tries in the space of five minutes around the half-time break.

The first score from Abbott, was a little fortunate as a pass from Waters to Logan went forward off the wing's knee to present Abbott with a clear run to the line.

King added the conversion to make it 16-13 to the home side going into the break and a minute after the restart former Wales captain Rob Howley created space for Rudd to show off his pace and power to run 25 metres for another try which King converted.

The Wasps pack began to get on a roll and even though Dominguez chipped in with two more penalty goals there were two more tries to come from Wasps.

The home side's third try came form skipper Dallaglio moments after Stade centre Brian Liebenberg had been sent to the sin-bin.

King kicked the penalty down the line, Simon Shaw took the lineout and the Wasps pack drove 15 metres before thrusting Dalaglio over the line.

Once again King added the conversion, but he was unable to hit the target after Waters had crossed for his try in the left corner.

That score stretched the Wasps lead to 16 points, but Dominguez's last-gasp drop goal has given Stade some hope for the second leg.

London Wasps: M. Van Gisbergen, J Rudd, F Waters, S Abbot, K Logan, A King, R Howley, C Dowd, T Leota, W Green, S Shaw, R Birkett, J Worsley, P Volley, L Dallaglio (capt.)

Stade Francais: N Corleto; T Lombard, S Glas, B Liebenberg, C Dominici; D Dominguez, F Galthie (capt); L Emmanuelli, B August, P de Villiers, D Auradou, M James, C Moni, R Martin, P Rabadan
Replacements: B Cabello, P Lemoine, P Tabacco, R Jechoux, F Comba, A Gomes, J Fillol
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

Results since round 2

Stade Francais: 21/12 Beat Grenoble 25-13(h)

London Wasps: 21/12 Lost Bath Rugby 17-20(h-Powergen Cup Rd 6); 27/12 v Leicester Tigers (h-Zurich Prem).