The only other time the Heineken Cup has gone into extra time was the first of the ten years of the competition's history.

Toulouse were quite the better team in that crucial time, and it was Michalak, playing although pre-match news was that he would not, who kicked a late penalty - not a hard one at all - that made the score 12-all and forced extra time.

That meant ten minutes each way to be played. Stade Français kicked off the extra period of play, but Isitolo Maka broke away upfield with great strength. Toulouse carried it on through Clément Poitrenaud, Cédric Heymans and Gareth Thomas. Suddenly Toulouse were attacking the walls of Paris. It stopped but Stade Français had been off-side. Michalak goaled, and for the first time in the match Stade Toulousain led.

When Omar Hasan was penalised for collapsing a scrum, David Skrela had the chance to level the scored from about 27 metres out and seven metres in from touch. His kick was wide to the right.

It was the only penalty missed in the match though Stade missed with a dropped goal attempt and Stade Français with two. But there was a great one to come as Michalak, now playing scrum-half, dropped back into the fly-half position and kicked a soaring drop in the second minute of the second half of extra time to the leaping, waving joy of the Mayor of Toulouse.

Toulouse kept control of the last minute as Stade Français strained to break out. They ran from behind their line and Dominici was nearly away but Florian Fritz hung onto him at the touch-line.

The final whistle went and there was ecstasy and joy in the Toulouse camp as they hugged, laughed and wept for joy. Trevor Brennan, Toulouse hard man, paraded in an Irish flag whose relevance was not entirely obvious.

There was a mess just before the prize giving. When the final whistle went Toulouse coach Guy Novès was seen talking on his ,mobile phone. He then tried to get the club's sponsor to join in the celebration. Security people were having none of this celebration and marched Noves from the field in a bizarre incident.

Toulouse dominated possession in the first half, and Stade Français led 12-6 at the break.

In the first seven minutes Stade Français had the ball only to kick off. In that time Toulouse had two penalties, six line-outs and three scrums - all to nil. In the half Toulouse threw into 20 line-outs, the Parisians into three. In the match Toulouse threw into 40 line-outs to Stade Français's 15, though the Parisians did manage to make life in the line-out hard for the men from the South West.

Toulouse also looked the more adventurous with ball in hand. Frédéric Michalak kicked a diagonal to his left. Thomas caught it on the full but Christophe Dominici darted in and grabbed him from behind. Gareth Thomas kicked and up and under, but Juan Martín Hernández caught magnificently. Toulouse rolled a hefty maul a long way. Toulouse tapped a penalty and Yannick Jauzion glided through a gap. Vincent Clerc had a good break.

All of that Toulouse did but Stade Français came closest to scoring when they made a mess of a Toulouse line-out near their line.

Stade Français scored first when Omar Hasan was penalised and David Skrela goaled an easy kick after 12 minutes. Soon afterwards Christian Labit was penalised for holding on at a tackle. Skrela made it 6-0.

Jean-Baptiste Elissalde kicked a penalty when Rémy Martin did not get off the tackled player and Skrela kicked another when Finau Maka came off a scrum too soon. 9-3 after 30 minutes.

Pieter de Villiers was penalised for coming in at the side of a tackle and Elissalde made it 9-6 but on half-time Toulouse took a quick throw-in and were swamped in the tackle, conceding a penalty. Skrela goaled from 38 metres out and seven metres in from touch.

Early in the second half Fabien Pelous landed awkwardly in a line-out with legs locked and went off with a knee injury.

There were no tries in this half either and Stade Français played another hour without adding to their score. Again the best opportunities belonged to Toulouse. Clerc ran, Jauzion swept through again twice, the Makas took turns to go on the burst. Finau Maka came close when he charged ahead like a wildebeest. Jauzion went running off an up and under as the pressure built.

Stade Français got into Toulouse territory for a period of sustained pressure. Skrela dropped but it was charged down and only the scurrying courage of Dominici prevented a dire situation.

Then Heymans kicked a long kick downfield. Stade Français were broken and Toulouse were within scoring range.

The Paris side could have saved the match when Maka charged and they hauled him down. In doing so they effected a turn-over but lost the ball back to Toulouse immediately and then they conceded the penalty which tied the scores.

On such a small incident was the fate of the 2005 Heineken Cup decided.

Man of the Match: Juan Martín Hernández at fullback for Stade Français was calm brilliance throughout. Rodrigo Roncero, the loosehead prop, was full of energy and endeavour though he did give away two penalties. For Toulouse Christian Labit was strong and Frédéric Michalak artistic enough to be in the Louvre, but it was the centre pairing which caught the eye - Florian Fritz and, our man-of-the-match, Yannick Jauzion, the best back on view on attack and on defence.

The scorers:

For Stade Français:Pens: Skrela 4 For Stade Toulousain:Pens: Elissalde 3, MichalakDrop: Michalak

The teams:

Stade Français: 15 Juan Martìn Hernandez, 14 Julien Arias, 13 Stéphane Glas, 12 Brian Liebenberg, 11 Christophe Dominici, 10 David Skrela, 9 Agustín Pichot, 8 Shaun Sowerby, 7 Rémy Martin, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 5 Mike James, 4 David Auradou (captain), 3 Pieter de Villiers, 2 Mathieu Blin, 1 Rodrigo Roncero. Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Pablo Lemoine, 19 Olivier Brouzet, 20 Pierre Rabadan, 21 Regan King, 22 Jérôme Fillol.

Stade Toulousain: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Yannick Jauzion, 12 Florian Fritz, 11 Gareth Thomas, 10 Frédéric Michalak, 9 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 8 Christian Labit, 7 Finau Maka, 6 Trvor Brennan, 5 Fabien Pelous, 4 Romain Millo-Chluski, 3 Omar Hasan, 2 William Servat, 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux.Replacements: 16 Yannick Bru, 17 Daan Human, 18 Isitoto Maka, 19 Jean Bouilhou, 20 Jean-Frédéric Dubois, 21 Cédric Heymans, 22 David Gerard

Referee: Chris White (England)Touch judges: Tony Spreadbury (England), Peter Huckle (England)Television match official: Geoff Warren (England)