Fijian speedster Peniasi Dakuwaqa came off the bench and scored a try in Stade Francais Paris’s narrow 35-32 loss to Benetton in the Challenge Cup today.
Mattia Bellini scored the opening try to give Benetton a perfect start and Tomas Albornoz converted before Stade was reduced to 14 men when Nathan Huguen was penalised for a foul play.
Fly-half Léo Barre got the Stade into the game with a penalty but Benetton increased their lead with another try from Bellini while the conversion remained unsuccessful.
Stade bounced back in the match with two tries from Kylan Hamdaoui and Sekou Macalou but Barre converted once only before Rhyno Smith scored for Benetton and Albornoz converted to give them a slight 19-15 lead at halftime.
Early in the second spell, Stade leveled the score with a try from Sione Tui but Albornoz kept Benetton ahead with a penalty kick.
Stade struggled really hard and a try from Giorgi Tsutkiridze merged the gap at 20-22 but Benetton had other plans and got a try from Tommaso Menoncello which Albornoz converted before Smith slotted a drop goal and Albornoz kicked a penalty to further the lead.
Coming off the bench, Dakuwaqa barged over the Benetton defense to score for Stade in the 69th minute which Morgan Parra converted before the side was reduced to 13 men when both Ryan Chapuis and Sekou Macalou were sin-binned for dangerous play.
