Ulster's stay at the top of Heineken Cup Pool 4 proved a bried one as Stade Francais romped to a four-try blitz and a convincing 31-7 victory over Edinburgh in Paris yesterday. After Ulster's Friday night victory over Bath, it looked as if the Irish province would be claiming top spot in the group for the week but a commanding performance from the French side has put them in pole position ahead of next weekend's games.

First-half tries from Julien Arias, Sergio Parisse, Pascal Pape and Lionel Beauxis ensured the bonus point was secured before the half-hour mark in Paris.

Edinburgh hit back in the second period and gained a late consolation score through Ben Cairns. But the crushing loss was Edinburgh's 17th in their last 18 away outings in the Heineken Cup and consigned last season's victory at Castres to a distant memory.

Stade, who face the added pressure of being the host city for the 15th final next May, looked at ease as they flew out of the traps, but luck was on their side for the first try in the seventh minute.

Centre John Houston was turned over and, fortunately, right wing Arias picked up the scraps to launch a devastating counter-attack from inside his own half to beat Edinburgh out-half Phil Godman on the outside and touch down with consummate ease.

Julien Dupuy, the scrum-half who returned to France in the summer from Leicester, added the extras and the hosts were up and running.

Stade were firmly into their stride two minutes later when they claimed their second score to stun the visitors.

Lock Tom Palmer won the line-out before Beauxis and Arias kept the move flowing to feed Italian number eight Sergio Parisse, who beat off the last-ditch tackle of Chris Paterson to crash over in the right corner.

Pape strolled through the challenge of Allan Jacobsen to add a third converted try by Dupuy for a comfortable 21-0 lead. But the French outfit, who have never won Europe's biggest prize, did not take their foot off the accelerator in a thrilling opening half of slick passing, flair and adventure.

The bonus point came in the 29th minute when Beauxis finished off another fine flowing move to seal the home side's dominance and power to leave Edinburgh coach Rob Moffat with the daunting task of rallying his troops at the interval.

The visitors emerged for the second half with renowned vigour and aggression and competed well in their bid to halt the French rampage.

Stade head coach Jacques Delmas began to make sweeping changes with Dupuy, Antoine Burban and Sylvain Marconnet given the rest of the afternoon off.

With the number of changes, inevitably, the intensity dropped. Replacement scrum-half Noel Oelschig added a solitary penalty, but Edinburgh produced a spirited second-half display.

The away team were rewarded when Cairns combined with centre partner Nick de Luca to ensure Edinburgh were not whitewashed.

Edinburgh now must beat Ulster at home next weekend to get their campaign on track. Stade, who moved above the Irish side to top the pool, travel to Bath next Sunday.

Stade Francais H Southwell; J Arias, L Bousses, G Messina, M Gasnier; L Beauxis, J Dupuy; R Roncero, D Szarzewski, J Marconnet, T Palmer, P Pape, J Haskell, A Burban, S Parisse Subs B Kayser for Burban, 34 mins; D Attoub for Marconnet, 40 mins; N Oelschig for Dupuy, 41 mins; M Bergamasco for Beauxis, D Weber for Roncero, M Blin for Szarzewski, all 62 mins; A Marchois for Pape, O Phillips for Southwell, both 67 mins

Edinburgh C Paterson; M Robertson, B Cairns, J Houston, T Visser; P Godman, M Blair; A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Cross, C Hamilton, S MacLeod, A MacDonald, R Grant, A Hogg Subs K Traynor for Jacobsen, N De Luca for Houston, both 48 mins; S Turnbull for C Hamilton, 50 mins; S Jones for Paterson, 60 mins; R Grant for M Blair, S Newlands for Hogg, both 62 mins

Referee Nigel Owens (WRFU)