WILLIAMS RUES MISSED CHANCES

Ulster head coach Matt Williams claimed his young team missed a great chance to claim a memorable scalp after seeing them go down to a 24-19 defeat to Stade Francais in a Heineken Cup dead rubber in Paris.

With Ulster's hopes of qualifying from Pool Four having already been extinguished, Williams made nine changes to the team that beat group winners Harlequins last weekend, drafting in a number of youngsters and second-teamers.

Going in search of what would have been the club's first win on French soil, they took the game to the Parisians, dominating the first half and only surrendering the lead with 25 minutes left as they began to make more mistakes.

Stade ended up squeezing home to take second place in the pool and even though Williams was delighted to see his side run them so close, he will leave the French capital with some regrets.

"I must say how happy I am with the guys, in terms of effort and courage," said the Australian. 

"We came here with a plan to run the ball, and I thought our offloading and running in the first half was magnificent. We made break after break but we didn't take those chances and we missed our kicks.

"But I am loathe to criticise the players because they gave their all, and there is nothing left in that dressing room.

"We dominated the game and the better team lost, but at the end of the day the scoreboard says we lost."

Paul Steinmetz's try and Niall O'Connor's penalty gave Ulster an 8-6 half-time lead, and it should have been a bigger margin given the number of times they broke through Stade's porous defence.

But the hosts, who also fielded a weakened team, drafted their big guns off the bench and took the lead in the 55th minute when Juan Manuel Leguizamon side-stepped his way over.

Mark Gasnier added another try late on for Stade, whose France fly-half Lionel Beauxis finished with 14 points from the boot, and Nigel Brady's last-second consolation try came too late for Ulster.

Williams was thrilled with how his young team stood up to the test and reserved special praise for Ian Whitten, who won his midfield duel with Stade's Australian rugby league convert Gasnier.

"I always think we all give French teams a little too much respect when they play at home - I think you have to attack them over here and I was delighted with our style. It was magnificent," Williams added.

"We've got a great crop of players, as I've said to everyone from day one. I was comfortable bringing in these players.

"I thought, for example, Ian Whitten was comfortably the best centre out there. I thought he had a magnificent game and overshadowed Gasnier by a considerable margin.

"His kicking game, how he entered the line, his offloading - that's the first time he's run on a senior field. He was phenomenal."

Stade were eliminated from the tournament last weekend following their defeat in Wales to the Scarlets, their galaxy of stars again disappointing on the biggest stage.

This win ended a three-match losing run but there was scant reason to cheer after being given the runaround on a pitch they have only lost once on in the Heineken Cup, to Munster seven seasons ago.

Stade and France hooker Dimitri Szarzewski said: "Our priority was to win and we achieved our objective.

"Last week, we didn't turn up (against the Scarlets), and we wanted to rediscover our fighting qualities and show something in front of our fans.

"It was a good match, even if we weren't very good to tell the truth."

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