Stade Francais 36-21 Leicester Tigers
TOP 14 CHAMPIONS Stade Francais put on a five-star show in Paris and eliminated Ulster from the European Champions Cup.
After trouncing Oyonnax in their final pool match, the Ulstermen were left to wait on other results to see if they would squeeze into the quarter-finals as one of the best runners-up.
But Stade proved too strong for Leicester, who had already guaranteed their place as Pool 4 winners with five wins from five before today.
For the first time since 1997/1998, there is no Irish representative in the last eight of Europe’s top competition — though Connacht are still flying the flag in the Challenge Cup.
Manu Tuilagi gave Ulster early hope when he ran in his first try of the season to help Leicester to an early 7-0 lead.
But Stade roared back and tries from Jules Plisson, Waisea Vuidarvuwalu and Rabah Slimani had the hosts 19-7 in front by the break.
Raphael Lakafia added the bonus point with a fourth try while Leicester captain Tom Youngs was in the sin-bin, but tries from Dom Barrow and Harry Thacker brought the visitors back to 29-21 and set up an intriguing finale.
That was as close as Leicester got and Geoffrey Doumayru ran back a 40-yard intercept try to add the icing to the win and book Stade’s place in the last eight.
