Stade Francais gear up for Round 1 Benetton clash

The 2020-21 Challenge Cup kicks off on Friday evening with Stade Francais locking horns with Benetton at Stade Jean-Bouin.

Naturally, both teams will be raring to go to start their campaigns off with a bang. Benetton did not feature in the 2019-20 instalment of the competition while Stade had a tournament they would much rather forget – winning only one of their six fixtures.

However, the French outfit have not fared too badly in the current Top 14 contest – occupying fifth spot on the overall standings with 28 points and 6 victories from 10 outings to their name. Their most recent fixture was a narrow but massive one – downing Champions Cup contenders Toulon 24-23.

Benetton, on the other hand, have not had a happy time of it in the Pro 14 this far – the Italians have yet to post a single victory from their seven clashes while having picked up a couple of heavy losses along the way.

While theirs is not a recent record of form which bodes well for Benetton, it is, after all, a new competition from which they may draw some revitalised motivation. They will need to pull out all the stops should they hope to put the French rivals to the sword, however.