Pichot heaps praise on Stade Francais saviour Dominici

INSPIRATIONAL Stade Francais scrum-half Agustin Pichot said his side never gave up hope in Saturday’s Heineken Cup semi-final - despite trailing to Biarritz until deep into injury-time.

Christophe Dominici scored the match-winner after nine additional minutes as Stade snatched a dramatic 20-17 victory at the Parc de Princes and his side now face Toulouse in the final. And Argentinian star Pichot was quick to pay tribute to winger Dominici for his stunning late effort.

“We were waiting for the last minute,” he said with a grin. “Christophe is one of those brilliant players who can always come up with things like that and we just kept trying.

“We didn’t perform in the first 30-40 minutes, but we played good rugby towards the end and in injury-time.

“Biarritz played well - especially in the first half - and maybe they should have been further ahead at half-time, but that’s rugby.

“This is my first cup final and I want to make the most of it. But we have to improve a lot before the final.” Pichot said he did not care who won yesterday’s second semi-final between Leicester and Toulouse.

“I hope the best team wins. I’d like to play either of them.”

Team-mate Shaun Sowerby, though, wants Toulouse.

“We’ll enjoy watching them bash each other tomorrow,” said the South African backrower. “I guess maybe Toulouse would be the best opponent to make it an all-French final.

“I feel sorry for Biarritz, but it’s a fantastic feeling to win such an important match like that.”

Biarritz scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili said his team-mates were angry that English referee Tony Spreadbury missed a blatant knock-on in the build-up to Jerome Fillol’s second-half try.

“There are four referees and officials out there - which is eight eyes - and they missed it. What do you want me to say about it? We are very sad and disappointed that we didn’t win, but perhaps we didn’t score enough points in the first half. We will now try to win the French Championship to make up for this.”