James Harrington
French column

Last season, Stade Francais finished second in the Top 14 to qualify directly for the semi-finals – where an after-the-hooter conversion miss meant defeat to losing finalists Bordeaux.
That marked the end of a campaign founded, built and fortressed on Paul Gustard’s no pasarán defence.
The attack, under Morgan Parra – with no small amount of input, no doubt, from sporting director Laurent Labit after he shipped up at Stade Jean Bouin post-World Cup – was hit-and-miss, at best. If fans of the Paris club are being honest, it was more miss than hit at that, desp...