That whirlwind start came with tries from Fainifo and scrum-half Jerome Fillol, Nicolas Bezy converting both.

It all caught I Cavalieri Prato flat-footed and barely with time to raise a sweat but to their credit they hit back with a couple of tries of their own to remind the glamour French club they had a game on their hands.

Flanker Edoarde Ruffolo and full back Michele Sepe both breached the Stade defence in the space of 10 minutes and a couple of Bezy penalty goals to one from Marco Frati meant the Italian club were just five points adrift at the break.

They cut that to just two points with another Frati penalty but then Stade Francais showed their class.

Fainifo got his second, the Italians conceded a penalty try and Fainifo completed his hat-trick in the 77th minute, although the home side did have the last word with a Niccolo Cannone try at the death.