Phil Vickery did not know whether to smile or grimace at the end of this outstanding advert for the Heineken Cup.
Having emerged unscathed from his longest tour of duty in the Gloucester front row since returning from back surgery, Vickery had to swallow a defeat that already puts his side under pressure in the quest for a quarter-final place.
Stade Français claimed the five points on offer in Paris by winning five tries to three. At the same time Vickery held up against the South American duo of the Argentinian Rodrigo Roncero and his Uruguayan replacement Pablo Lemoine.
That must have pleased the watching England coach Andy Robinson but left Vickery rueing Gloucester's mistakes and missed chances.
Vickery said: "My rehabilitation has been a struggle. It's been a long period but I just got my head down and got on with it. This game was disappointing. We knew Stade Français's strengths and let ourselves down in key areas.
"The game was there for us to win but we made a few errors at key times and these guys don't muck about. They scored a few tries and we were chasing the game. We have to be harder on ourselves, pull together and hopefully we can get things clicking."
Thankfully for Vickery there was no clicking to be heard or felt in that broad back of his and he can now confidently concentrate on his bid to reclaim the England No3 jersey and perhaps the England captaincy in the process.
By the 70th minute, when Vickery made way for the Welshman Gary Powell, Gloucester simply had too much ground to make up on a French side without nine injured front-line players but who still managed to start with 11 internationals.
After the home fly-half David Skrela dropped a goal Henry Paul replied for Gloucester and the No8 James Forrester galloped away for a fine try to raise English hopes.
Agustin Pichot darted over, Skrela converting, before Paul gave his side an 11-10 half-time lead with his second penalty. There was further encouragement for Gloucester when Paul put another shot through the sticks early in the second half.
But between the 10th and 18th minutes after the break the home side took the initiative as Gloucester lost the plot. The prop Sylvain Marconnet profited from two strong driving mauls and Pichot added his second try in between the forward's touchdowns.
Then the Italian centre Mirco Bergamasco killed off the visitors' challenge by breaking through some weak tackling on a 35-metre charge to the line. James Simpson-Daniel's two late touchdowns merely proved that this was a game Gloucester should have made more of, and so now they face Ulster on Saturday knowing that defeat would almost certainly end this season's European campaign.
Stade Français: Dominici; Arias, Glas, Mirco Bergamasco, Mauro Bergamasco; Skrela (Fillol, 75), Pichot; Roncero (Lemoine, 48); Blin, Marconnet, Auradou (capt), James (Brouzet, 74), Rabadan, Jechoux, Sowerby.
Tries: Pichot 2, Marconnet 2, Mirco Bergamasco; Cons: Skrela 4; Pen: Skrela; Drop goal: Skrela.
Gloucester: Goodridge (Mauger, 73); Garvey, Fanolua, Paul, Simpson-Daniel; McRae, Gomarsall; Bezuidenhout (Sigley, 54), Azam (Fortey, 56), Vickery (Powell, 70), Eustace (Buxton, 54), Brown, Boer (capt), Hazell (Balding, 69), Forrester.
Tries: Forrester, Simpson-Daniel 2. Cons: Paul 2. Pens: McRae, Paul 3.
Referee: A Rolland (Irish RFU).
Attendance: 8,500.
