20 METROSPORT Monday, December 21, 2009 D Stades home fires burn Ulster Youre not the Boss of me: Ulster scrum-half Isaac Boss is snared by Stades Mauro Bergamasco rugby heIneken cUp Stade FrancaiS seized the initiative in Heineken cup Pool Four with victory over Ulster at Stade Jean Bouin. the contest had been scheduled to take place in Brussels on Saturday but snow forced the postponement and the fixture was switched to Stades Paris home. the hosts thrived on home turf as dimitri Szarzewski and Benjamin Kayser rounded off forward efforts with tries and France fly-half Lionel Beauxis was unerringly accurate with the boot kicking 19 points, seven from seven attempts to put Stade clear of Ulster and edinburgh at the top of the group. ian Humphreys kicked 11 points and andrew trimble scored a second-half solo try but Ulster fell to a second Heineken cup loss of the season. Ulster took first blood when Humphreys kicked a penalty but Beauxis soon replied with three points of his own as Stade punished the visitors indiscipline. the hosts went in front for the first time when a fine forward effort was finished off by Szarzewski and Beauxis converted. Humphreys reduced the deficit with another penalty, but Stade quickly responded to further Ulster indiscipline as Beauxis kicked two more penalties to open up a ten-point lead. another penalty exchange saw Stade take a 19-9 half-time advantage. Ulster slipped further behind as Beauxis kicked his fifth penalty, before Stade claimed a second try through Kayser. Ulsters faint hopes were boosted when trimble burst on to Humphreys pass and powered home to cut the gap to 13 points with 11 minutes remaining, but it was as close as Ulster could get as Stade held on. stade francais 29 ulster 16 Munster defy the odds to stun French masters BY john donnellY MUnSter recorded one of the fin- est away victories in Heineken cup history with a thrilling bonus-point win at Perpignan. the French champions had won 16 successive european ties at the Stade aime Giral, having not been beaten in the south of France since Wasps tasted success in 2004. But the province took full control of Pool One with an excellent display and were rewarded with maximum points thanks to tries from denis Fogarty, denis Hurley, Jean de Vil- liers and doug Howlett. Perpignan began brightly and took the lead in the fifth minute after Fog- arty was adjudged by english official dave Pearson to be offside. Scrum-half david Mele stepped up in clear blues skies to slot home the penalty with consummate ease. ronan OGara missed the chance to level the scores with a drop goal after 12 minutes but OGara made no mistake with a subsequent penalty Munster skipper Paul Oconnell had been influential in the early ex- changes and the Lions captain was held short but he was ably supported by Wallace and Warwick who bat- tered away at the line before finally Fogarty scrambled over. Mele reduced the deficit to one at the interval with two penalties, but Munster were on the front foot after the restart as OGara fired over a brace of penalties, the second of which came after Perpignan prop Jerome Schuster was yellow carded for headbutting denis Leamy. OGara was also sent to the sin-bin for a late tackle but Munster contin- ued their momentum as the pressure grew. the outstanding Oconnell and Wallace gained excellent field posi- tion and then Warwick fed Hurley who beat christophe Manas and Mele to touch down in the left corner. Warwick hammered home a fine conversion from the far touchline and although Guilhem Guirado scored an opportunist try on 66 min- utes, replacement deVilliers and then Howlett sealed an emphatic victory. All four the best: doug howlett (14) is congratulated by paul Warwick and keith earls and after scoring Munsters fourth try against perpignan in the south of France yesterday perpignan 14 munster 37 Bonus boy: dArcy celebrates Leinster hit top gear in Llanelli rout Leinster continued their march to a Pool six decider against London irish next month by thrashing a miserable scarlets side 39-7 at the rDs on saturday. the defending Heineken Cup champions ran in seven tries to warm the hearts of those present on the coldest of evenings to sit proudly at the summit of the group alongside the exiles, who matched Leinsters bonus-point victory with a 34-13 win against Brive. As they had in Llanelli the previous weekend, Leinster had much of the hard work done by half-time, when they went in 15-0 to the good thanks to a brace of tries from rob Kearney and an interception and 80-yard dash from shane Horgan. With the bonus point netted straight after the break thanks to Gordon DArcy, the atmosphere turned festive as second from DArcy and two late Brian ODriscoll tries finished off the rout. But Leinster coach Michael Cheika refused to get carried away, saying: early on we actually made some elementary mistakes, referring no doubt to the remarkable sight of the usually reliable Kearney spilling a series of high balls. We could have put ourselves under pressure there, but i was happy with the mental approach. With back-to-back games, having won the away game there is always that talk that you will relax. We had to approach this game as a final, like all these games, and we took that approach. formula one MicHaeL ScHUMacHer can still be a winner in Formula One even at the age of 41 if he makes a comeback with Mercedes next year, according to former champion nigel Mansell. age will not be a factor in Michaels story, said Mansell, who won his title in 1992 aged 39 and raced in F1 until he was 41. it doesnt matter what age you are as long as you are professional, committed and focused. it may take a few races to get to grips with his car, but after that it wouldnt surprise me if Michael challenged for another world championship. Schumacher, a seven-times champion and Formula Ones most successful driver, retired in 2006 but has told his former Ferrari team that there is a very, very, very strong possibility of his racing for Mercedes in 2010. Bernie eCCLestOne has agreed a deal which would see Formula One come to the streets of rome, according to course planner Maurizio Flammini. A rome grand prix, raced through the streets of the italian capital much like the famous race in Monaco, has been in planning for over a year and a half. And Flammini, the creator of the idea, has revealed they have now been given the green light by the F1 supremo. the agreement with Formula One chief Bernie ecclestone to give life to the rome Grand Prix has already been done and signed, he said. the appropriate course still has to be defined. the new race is not thought to be a threat to italys current grand prix at Monza. F1 set for Rome streetsSchu can still do it Winner: Schumacher Picture: AP index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html