Last-gasp drop goal sees Harlequins go top

Harlequins 19 Stade Francais 17

Nick Evans landed a dramatic drop-goal deep into added time as Harlequins took control of Heineken Cup Pool Four with a second straight victory over Stade Francais.

The French giants had edged ahead with a drop-goal from Argentina full-back Juan Martin Hernandez with eight minutes remaining before Quins staged a brave and brilliant final rally of 29 phases.

Twice Evans was lined up in the pocket for the drop-goal and both times, with his space cut down by the fast-closing defence, he dummied the kick before carrying Quins deep into the Stade half.

On the second occasion, Ugo Monye almost scampered across in the corner but Quins kept the ball alive brilliantly, knowing one false move would bring the final whistle and defeat, before Evans slotted the winning points.

It was an ugly, scuffed effort - and it needed the television official to confirm it - but the result was a thing of beauty for Quins, who are unbeaten in four Heineken Cup games this season and are now only one win away from the quarter-finals.

The Stoop was not quite as loud or garish as the Stade de France last weekend, where 76,000 turned out to watch jousting and can-can girls, but the result was the same - a famous Quins victory.

Evans and Noel Oelschig exchanged penalties in the first six minutes before the Stade scrum-half danced through the Quins defence from the back of a five-metre scrum for the opening try.

Danny Care raced off the Quins line to stop Oelschig feeding his backs but the South African straightened through the gap and then cut past two defenders to score.

If Quins boss Dean Richards was disappointed with his side's set-piece defence, he will have been furious when Monye was penalised for back-chat to referee Nigel Owens and Oelschig nudged Stade further ahead.

In torrential rain, Stade relied almost exclusively on Hernandez's kicking game but Quins dealt well with the bombardment and began to turn up the pressure.

A barnstorming run from England number eight Nick Easter carried them into Stade territory but for all their territorial dominance, Quins could not engineer the vital breakthrough.

When Care burst through the lineout he tried to be too cute in difficult handling conditions and the ball went to ground.

Stade were hamstrung by a misfiring lineout and when Easter stole possession after a poor throw from Dimitri Szarzewski, Quins powered through the phases but when ball was spun wide, Gonzalo Tiesi got in Monye's way and another chance went begging.

Quins earned a penalty under the posts after a scrum had gone down four times and Care, controversially, decided to take a quick tap. Easter drove over the line but Quins were again penalised for accidental off-side and Stade survived again.

Quins simply had to score. They needed to translate their dominance into points to stand any chance of sealing an impressive win double over the French giants.

And just before the half hour they finally managed it. Easter fed Care from the lineout and Jordan Turner-Hall ran a brilliant angle against Stade's drifting defence to score untouched under the posts.

After Stade regained the lead with another Oelschig penalty, Care again took a quick penalty and this time tried to pick out Monye, who had been screaming for the cross-kick, but Stade scrambled to defend their lines.

Evans edged Quins back ahead early in the second half before a brilliant chip over the top from Care piled the pressure back on Stade.

Will Skinner almost drove over from the back of a lineout but Stade's defence held firm and eventually forced Care into an ugly drop-goal attempt, which was so bad it nearly went for lineout.

Stade snatched the lead with a calm and measured drop-goal from Hernandez and Quins fans began to rue the first-half decisions not to go for goal.

But Evans then directed a brilliant last stand to carry them to victory.