Penaud the renaissance man

Leicester will find a familiar foe is still in the pink at 36

That man is Alain Penaud, and far from blundering around Paris in a trenchcoat, he is in the form to derail Leicester Tigers at a packed Welford Road this afternoon.

Penaud thought that big matches like this were behind him last June when he bid adieu to his home-town club, Brive, and took a player-coach's job in the second division at Lyon. A month-and-a-half and a bust-up with his coaching boss later, he was sans gainful employment. What to do?

How about a season's contract with the mighty Stade Français, whose predicament after injuries to their No 10s David Skréla and Juan Hernandez was a problem not easily solved, even by their owner Max Guazzini's bountiful chequebook?

"Lyon wanted me just to play, but I thought I was taking the first step to being a coach," says Penaud, who won the last of his 32 caps for France in 2000. "I was looking for another possibility and [the Stade head coach] Fabien Galthié contacted me. Apparently it was originally the idea of [Stade's France wing] Christophe Dominici, so I must thank him too."

And Stade have had reason to be thankful for Penaud's old head on, well, old shoulders (he is one of only 10 players in European competition born in the 1960s). The club are second in the French league, one point behind Biarritz, and beat Leicester 12-6 in the reverse fixture back in October. That was a dire match - "our team were in poor condition, with a few injuries, and the goal was just to win," says Penaud - but since then the tries have been plentiful, including six last week against Narbonne on the resumption after a fortnight's Christmas and New Year break. And, yes, Stade wore those pink jerseys.

"It's an amazing club, run by a very good guy; a visionary," says Penaud. "I just came to replace Skréla, but since I arrived I have played every match in the league and European Cup."

In the process he and Leic-ester have renewed an old acquaintance. In 1997, during his first stint with Brive, Penaud was the captain in the Heineken Cup final defeat of the Tigers in Cardiff. "One of my best memories in rugby," he calls it. "We were a village side if you compared us with Leicester's set-up." Having won a Grand Slam with France, also in '97, Penaud joined Saracens in the summer of 1998, and before long they beat Leicester 22-10 in front of more than 17,000 spectators at Vicarage Road. But Penaud was not seduced by the wiles of Watford, and left after a year. Two seasons with Toulouse were followed by a return to Brive in 2001.

Now, while his wife and two sons have stayed in Lyon, Penaud is in Paris. From his rented flat he can see the Parc des Princes stadium, where Stade lost the 2001 Heineken final to Leicester. He is on loan at Stade as what the French call a medical joker, which may sound like Tony Hancock in The Blood Donor; but Stade are deadly serious about a European conquest after so many near-misses, including another final defeat against Toulouse in 2005.

"On paper, Leicester are more powerful than us in the forwards," says Penaud, "but we have played well in the past few weeks and feel more confident." Although Galthié rates Harry Ellis as the best scrum-half in England, they are wary too of Austin Healey. "Maybe Austin is more of a 'Frenchie' than any other English back," says Penaud. "He loves the attacking game, he's got pace, good hands and good vision."

For his part, Penaud is loving his unexpected period of extra time, keeping the shirt ahead of the fit-again Skréla and Hernandez in succession to the much-loved Diego Dominguez. "I feel good. I'm not moving as fast as I was, but I get the same thrill pulling on my boots for a match. All I ask is to get through a match without regrets.

"I had regrets when Brive lost the 1998 final to Bath, because we did not play our game. If we play well today and Leicester win, I can accept that."