Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett breathed a sigh of relief on Sunday as his French champions Stade Francais kept alive their hopes of defending their title by beating Colomiers 22-15.
Victory was enough to land them the final place in the title race play-offs which at one point in the season looked a distant prospect after a disastrous opening to their campaign.
‘To have qualified says a lot about the spirit of the squad,” said Mallett.
”We were the side most affected by the World Cup with 14 players away during the opening matches.
”Then the Six Nations deprived us of some more. I really think this present system of the Top 16 should be got rid of as the players cannot be expected to compete in three different competitions,” added the English-born coach.
Stade only just managed to hang on for the last 10 minutes of the match after French winger Christophe Dominici was sin-binned, but a late penalty from evergreen fly-half Diego Dominguez gave them the breathing space they needed.
Stade go into Pool B where they face European champions Toulouse, Biarritz and Brive — the other pool features Bourgoin, Beziers, Perpignan and Castres.
The second phase gets underway next weekend. – Sapa-AFP