Harlequins Danny Care (right) and Nick Evans celebrate their side's victory at the final whistle
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Matches: Stade Français 10 - 15 Harlequins

Teams: England | France | Harlequins | Stade Français

Harlequins scored an historic 15-10 victory over Stade Francais in their Heineken Cup Pool 4 clash at the Stade de France in Paris.

The result, the first defeat suffered by Stade at home in the pool stages of the Heineken Cup, means Harlequins maintain their unbeaten record and take a step nearer to qualifying for this season's quarter-finals.

The Premiership side silenced the record 76,569 crowd by racing into a 12-0 lead with tries from Tom Williams and Jordan Turner-Hall but they had to withstand a brace fightback from the hosts before registering surely their finest ever success.

All Stade's points came when Quins' England scrum-half Danny Care was in the sin-bin at the end of the first half and start of the second half, Juan Manuel Leguizamon scoring a try and his off-colour Argentina team-mate Juan Martin Hernandez booting a conversion and a penalty. But Nick Evans, who converted Williams' try, kicked a penalty with 13 minutes remaining and some resolute defending in a dramatic final few minutes secured the win for the visitors.

Quins now have three wins from three and 13 points from their opening three games, and should all but seal qualification to the last eight with a victory over Stade in the return fixture next weekend.

Pom-pom girls, a medieval parade that included a jousting face-off, gymnastic firemen and dancers from the Moulin Rouge were part of the pre-match entertainment served up by flamboyant Stade president Max Guazzini. With 'Mad Max' offering tickets for these rare Stade de France club encounters for as little as five euros, there was a near-capacity crowd in France's national stadium.

What Guazzini, French rugby's salesman supreme, really wants is success on the pitch but despite all their recent domestic titles, the capital club he took over in 1992 have never won Europe's biggest prize. Wins in the opening two matches of this season's tournament raised hopes this could be their year but Quins sensationally pooped the party.

Stade's start was explosive, Julien Saubade just failing to touch down in the left corner and a rampaging Mathieu Bastareaud being held up over the line by Nick Easter. Quins soon settled and took the lead in the 11th minute when Stade full-back Djibril Camara made a mess of dealing with Care's grubber, winger Williams capitalising by tapping on to ground.

Evans converted and with the hosts' half-backs Noel Oelschig and Hernandez having off days, the match was there for the taking for the Premiership side. Indeed they increased their lead to 12-0 14 minutes later following some naivety from Hernandez.

The Pumas star, the last line of defence after a Quins hack-on, crazily tried to offload in the tackle only to fumble the ball forward. The covering Camara was then driven to the floor by James Percival as he tried to collect, allowing Turner-Hall to gather and scamper down the right wing for an unconverted try.

Hernandez then botched an easy penalty attempt and by the half-hour mark, Stade were already being jeered by the notoriously fickle Paris public. Care's sin-binning for cynically slowing down play and Hernandez's subsequent penalty, three minutes before the break, gave them something to cheer about.

And just before the return of Care in the opening stages of the second half, Leguizamon sped through a gap in the middle of Quins' defence, danced around Ugo Monye and dived over for a try converted by Hernandez for 12-10. Back to their full complement of 15, the Londoners regained their solidity and neither side were giving an inch as the game went into its final 20 minutes.

A superb last-ditch tackle from Easter, again on Bastareaud, saved what would have been a certain try for the hulking centre. And just when it looked like Stade were on the verge of scoring, Care kicked downfield on turnover ball, Hernandez was pinged for not releasing and Evans slotted over a key penalty to put Quins five points clear.

Both sets of forwards twice came to blows in a tense final few minutes as Stade laid siege on the Quins line but the visitors held on to register a memorable victory.

Dean Richards admitted his side's sensational was one of the best results of his reign at Harlequins. "It is right up there. It is not just the defence we had but also the discipline. We could have given away penalty after penalty but we didn't. A lot of the boys grew up here.

"We most probably would have lost this game last year. It's a hugely important game and we played outstandingly well. We have a huge amount of talent, and there are young boys out there. They are growing up quickly and will learn from matches like this."

"We warned the boys as to what to expect and we had to maintain our focus," said Richards, whose side welcome Stade to the Stoop next weekend for the return match. "The boys stood their ground and didn't give an inch, and we will have to do exactly the same next week. This is one game of two. Next week is equally as important as this.

"The importance of this game isn't the 76,000 people and the circus around it. It's about doing the same thing next week. We have to back it up with a win at the Stoop and by getting through the group. But they will come back, they will feel wounded and will have all their guns blazing."

Quins captain Will Skinner, part of a pack who stood up to the physical challenge of their Stade counterparts, added: "We didn't win a game (in the Heineken Cup) last year but we gained a lot of experience. We learned a lot and we are now winning these games when they are close at the end. People will have to start noticing us with the performances we are putting in."

Stade coach Fabrice Landreau said: "We lacked the intensity to win this match and we dropped too many balls. It's really disappointing to lose but we will try to find the answers and get back into the tournament. It will be complicated now but we must keep our heads up."

Stade Français Paris: D Camara, J Arias (G Bousses 55), M Bastareaud, B Liebenberg, J Saubade (M Gasnier 19), J Hernandez, N Oelschig (A Albouy 71), R Roncero, D Szarzewski (M Blin 55), S Marconnet, A Marchois, S Taylor (M Bergamasco 55), J Leguizamon, P Rabadan, S Parisse [capt]

Yellow Card - N Oelschig (71)

Harlequins: M Brown, T Williams, G Tiesi, J Turner-Hall, U Monye, N Evans, D Care, C Jones, T Fuga, M Ross, J Percival (G Robson 63), J Evans, C Robshaw, W Skinner [capt], N Easter

Man of the Match: D Care (Harlequins)

Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)

Attendance: 76,569