Sub provides helping hand for French

Dominguez, watching from afar with increasing incredulity in company with Wasps' best crowd of the season - 8,233 - could scarcely believe his luck.

'I was a long way away but Birkett definitely touched it,' he said. 'I thought it was going over anyway, but only just.'

Stade's Australian coach, John Connolly, had little doubt that his penalty expert needed a helping hand.

'I saw John Eales knock-on in a Super Twelve match in similar circumstances but I've never seen anyone do a penalty assist before,' he said. 'Does it go on our score-sheet or theirs? I'm not going to argue.'

Neither was his counterpart, Nigel Melville. 'We are not into a culture of blaming anyone,' he said. 'Nobody jumps as high as Richard did to try and tip it over. He made every attempt to stop it and at that height it's very difficult. Whether it was going over or not, I don't know. But with such a slippery ball these things can happen.'

Birkett, summoned from the bench to replace Peter Scrivener after the injured Lawrence Dallaglio's deputy had taken a painful blow to the ribs in the opening half hour, need not reproach himself. A draw would only have postponed Wasps' knock-out until the next round of matches in the New Year, hence their decision to reject an equalising penalty offered on three occasions in the frenzied finish.

Wasps responded to the bizarre own-goal with a fury which brought them to within three points.

Skipper Mark Denney scored their only try before Kenny Logan guided his oblique conversion expertly through a wind blowing in all directions and watched it bounce over off the far upright.

For most of nearly seven minutes' injury-time, Wasps hammered away in search of the second try which would have won their reprieve. Stade, their scrum stretched to breaking point by the sin-binning of monstrous Uruguayan prop Pablo Lemoine, survived somehow. In a desperate final throw of the dice, Rob Henderson - pressed into emergency service at fly half after Alex King had been declared unfit - cross-kicked to the right corner where a soaring Josh Lewsey fumbled under extreme pressure and Wasps had run out of tricks.

At least they did enough to patch up the crumbling credibility of the Zurich Premiership, Logan striking three penalties in the first ten minutes only for Dominguez to reply with three in the next ten.

Franck Comba's first-half try, nudging Stade momentarily out of range of Logan's boot at 19-12, underlined the class which makes the Paris club the team to beat in Europe. Eight of their players will be in France's 22 for Saturday's repeat of last year's World Cup final against New Zealand.

In completing a French Grand Slam - victory for all six of their clubs against opponents from Britain and Northern Ireland - Stade proved they are no longer a soft touch on their travels across the Channel. If they win their Paris return against Swansea in the New Year, they will surely win the pool and clinch a home quarter-final, although both teams will expect to go through.

'In a way I hope Stade go on to win the cup because of the way they play,' said Melville, gracious in defeat. 'It would be great for European rugby.'