A remarkable weekend of English success in Europe was rounded off in no-nonsense fashion by Bristol yesterday in the sort of conditions rarely encountered in the smarter arrondissements of Paris.

Never before have Stade Français failed to trouble the scorers in a Heineken Cup fixture and this miserable experience in Pool Three will rank among the worst days the French champions have known since their millionaire backer, Max Guazzini, decided to inject some glamour into the professional club game.

Bristol, by preference, do not specialise in dancing girls or high-kicking pre-match entertainment but they know how to welcome sophisticated guests when wind and lashing rain comes sweeping up the Severn estuary. The resultant ambush, built around a hugely committed forward effort, an endless stream of box-kicks from Shaun Perry and a late try from Neil Brew, condemned Stade to their fourth successive defeat on English soil and underlined the thirst of every Guinness Premiership side for Heineken glory this season.

Apart from Saracens, who lost by a solitary point in Biarritz, none of the 12 English teams involved in Europe was defeated at the weekend and all five pools in the European Challenge Cup are headed by Premiership clubs.

Stade were missing up to a dozen influential players, not least Juan Martín Hernández and Ignacio Corleto, but on the day there was no contest. Bristol had been braced for bad weather since Wednesday and chose to play into the elements initially. To their unconcealed delight they turned around leading 6-0 and Stade rarely looked like reversing the tide.

The lopsided outcome, as the home coach Richard Hill confirmed afterwards, was the most heartening result in Bristol's recent history. "That's probably our best result in the last five years," said Hill, who has painstakingly hoisted the club back to prominence from the depths of National League One.

"We thought we might scrape in by one point, possibly three. I think Stade probably underestimated us. This will send a statement out to other teams that they can expect a very hard game here."

Stade certainly did not appear to fancy the challenge greatly, their mocha-coloured brown change jerseys with pink fleur-de-lys design inspiring a suitably sludge-like performance. In contrast, the local pack were in their element. Mark Regan has played more top-level rugby on mucky Bristolian nights than anyone else alive and his younger front-row partners Alex Clarke and Jason Hobson did their reputations no harm.

Behind them Andrew Blowers ran his fellow Kiwi Sean Hohneck close for the man-of-the-match award and the No8 Dan Ward-Smith, cruelly struck down with a serious knee injury last season, looks plenty quick and strong enough to interest the national selectors again.

Perry, another who endured his share of World Cup disappointment, reacted positively to the responsibility of leading Bristol for the first time and Hill also profited from "a bit of inside information from our spies in Paris" before the game.

"We understood they were worried about our forwards and when you know that it gives you a little bit of an edge," suggested Hill. When both Stade's Italian back-rows Sergio Parisse and Mauro Bergamasco suffered ankle injuries early in the second quarter, the odds against a Stade victory lengthened even more. "They were strong on the basics and aggressive in defence," admitted Stade's coach, Fabien Galthié. "They played with more intensity than us."

Maybe if Stade had kicked better in the first half they could have delayed the increasingly inevitable. Brian Liebenberg is hardly the sort of centre who inspires poetry, even with a Milton on the bench, and he did not resemble a seasoned international player yesterday.

David Skrela also had a shocker at fly...#8209;half and it was his steady opposite number, David Hill, who nudged Bristol clear as Stade's discipline began to fray. His third successful penalty from three attempts put his side 9-0 ahead entering the final 20 minutes before Brew intercepted a pass from Liebenberg 40 metres out and exchanged passes with his centre partner Rob Higgitt before slithering over. One more penalty from Hill and Bristol were home, if not dry. It leaves Pool Three intriguingly poised, with Cardiff's home-and-away games against Stade in December looking increasingly pivotal. Bristol may have to contemplate scoring a few more tries at some point but Hill, their coach, is suitably optimistic - "We know we can beat Harlequins home and away" - about the future.

That said, he fears the tables could be unceremoniously turned when Bristol face Stade again in the new year. "You've got to be a little bit careful ... I'm sure we'll have a very warm reception in Paris," he warned. In terms of scaling Europe's biggest peaks, he knows his team have barely left base camp.

Bristol L Arscott; T Arscott (Taumalolo, 10), Brew, Higgitt, Lemi; Hill, Perry (capt); Clarke, Regan, Hobson, Winters, Hohneck, Blowers, El Abd (To'oala, 59), Ward-Smith.

Try Brew. Pens Hill 4.

Stade Français Jeanjean; Arias, Mirco Bergamasco (Messina, 70), Liebenberg, Saubade; Skrela, Fillol; Montanella (Attoub, 63), Szarzewski (capt; Blin, 56), Ledesma (Weber, 47), Du Plooy, Pape, Mauro Bergamasco, Martin, Parisse (Milton, 24).

Referee P Fitzgibbon (Ireland). Att 10,756.