HEINEKEN CUP POOL 1 Stade 26 Tries: Lombard, Liebenberg Cons: Dominguez 2 Pens: Dominguez 4 Leicester 15 Tries: Vesty, Pez Con: Pez Pen: Pez

Leicester suffered an early setback to their hopes of reclaiming the Heineken Cup as French champions Stade Francais prevailed in Paris.

The Tigers, champions in 2001 and 2002, were unable to reverse recent poor domestic form despite the return of England World Cup heroes Martin Johnson and Neil Back to their starting line-up.

The visitors trailed 13-0 five minutes before half-time to two penalties from veteran Stade fly-half Diego Dominguez and a converted try from wing Thomas Lombard.

Full-back Sam Vesty and stand-off Ramiro Pez gave Leicester hope with tries either side of a third Dominguez penalty and a second Stade try from centre Brian Liebenberg.

But the Parisians were seen home by Dominguez, whose ever-reliable boot earned him a personal haul of 16 poiints.

I'm very pleased with that. We showed what great spirit we have in the squad Stade coach Nick Mallett

Stade had lost every championship match this season with 14 players away at the World Cup.

They dominated territorially early on but only had two penalties to show for their efforts until former France centre Lombard touched down after a sniping run and chip ahead by Argentine scrum-half Agustin Pichot.

Dominguez converted brilliantly from wide out, but Leicester rallied well before the interval.

A superb break from Daryl Gibson and Ollie Smith's off-load out of the tackle allowed Vesty to touch down and open the Tigers account.

Dominguez slotted a third penalty to give Stade a 16-5 half-time lead, and when Liebenberg crossed for a converted try after 51 minutes, Leicester were facing a heavy defeat.

This was one of those days when things just didn't go our way Leicester boss Dean Richards

The powerful France centre chased his own downfield kick and dived on the loose ball when wing John Holtby fumbled it on his own line.

But Pez stepped off his right foot and sliced through unopposed within two minutes, converting for good measure to keep the Tigers in touch.

The Italian added a penalty to bring Leicester within eight points but the comeback ended there.

A fourth penalty from Dominguez sealed victory as the home side ultimately ran out relatively comfortable winners.

Stade Francais: Corleto, Lombard, Hernandez, Liebenburg, Bergamasco, Dominguez, Pichot, Marconnet, August, Lemoine, Auradou, Marchois, Moni, Martin, Rabadan
Replacements: Blin, De Villiers, Bado, Bergamasco, Poulain, Skrela, Vass

Leicester: Vesty, Baxter, Smith, Gibson, Holtby, Pez, Healey, Rowntree, Richards, White, Johnson, Deacon, Corry, Back (captain), Balding
Replacements: West, Morris, Kay, Tuilagi, Moody, Tierney, Tuilagi