Gloucester v Stade Francais - Match Facts

Stade Francais managed to overcome Gloucester to win the European Challenge Cup for the first time with a 17-25 margin in the final at Murrayfield Stadium on Friday.

Jonny May opened the scoring against the run of play but the French side ran out 25-17 winners in Edinburgh.

Sergio Parisse's try helped Stade level in the 32nd minute and, although Gloucester were unscathed after Willi Heinz's spell in the sin-bin, second-half tries from centres Jonathan Danty and Geoffrey Doumayrou earned Stade victory, with Ross Moriarty's late reply only a consolation.

TWEET OF THE MATCH

"Thank you for your company this evening, and all season. This hurts a lot, but your support means everything." Gloucester's official account (@gloucesterrugby) had a message for supporters after a painful second half.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

A mass melee near the halfway line just before the break spilled on to the track and seemed to reignite several times just when it appeared to have stopped. The sight of several opponents rolling around on the deck was more akin to a scene from a saloon in a low-budget Western movie. The match officials had a good look and decided Gloucester's Lewis Ludlow should be penalised with a penalty following his full-on tackle on an unsuspecting Stade Francais scrum-half Will Genia, but no cards were issued for the 'grappling'.

IN WITH THE CROWD

There were 24,594 fans at BT Murrayfield for the first of two European finals this weekend. Gloucester had talked of making Scotland's national stadium sound like The Shed at their home ground but there were plenty of pink flags on show from the French contingent, who had far more to shout about.

FIVE STAR

The journey to Scotland proved well worth it for the Parisian supporters as they watched their side triumph in a European final for the first time after four previous defeats.

PLAYER RATINGS

Gloucester

Tom Marshall 7/10

Charlie Sharples 7

Matt Scott 5

Mark Atkinson 6

Jonny May 6

Billy Burns 6

Willi Heinz 4

Josh Hohneck 5

Richard Hibbard 6

John Afoa 6

Tom Savage 5

Jeremy Thrush 6

Ross Moriarty 6

Lewis Ludlow 5

Ben Morgan 6

Replacements

Greig Laidlaw came on just after the break and his kicking allowed Gloucester some chances to relieve the pressure but not even the tactical nous of the Scotland captain on home turf could ultimately stem the tide.