Harlequins' European hopes suffered a severe blow on Saturday after the London side were demolished by Stade Francais in the Parker Pen Challenge Cup.

The Stoop outfit now travel to Paris next weekend for the second leg of the round two contest with an almighty uphill battle on their hands if they are to keep their dreams alive.

The home side, who won the competition in 2001, started well and dominated territory in the first quarter, but Stade Francais' hardened defence prevented Harlequins from reaping any reward.

And unlike the home side, when the visitors did break through they made the most of their opportunities.

After 29 minutes Arthur Gomes broke the deadlock with first score of the afternoon. The full-back broke loose after a pass from Jerome Fillol to scramble over the line just wide of the post.

Diego Dominguez converted before adding a penalty to make the half-time score 15-0.

The 2001 Heineken Cup finalists then stepped up a gear after the break.

Just three minutes elapsed before centre Brian Liebenberg touched down.

The score came after an attacking Stade Francais line-out on the five metre line.

Forward Mike James cleanly took the ball before it was recycled out to Liebenberg who exploited the weak Quins defence. Again Dominguez converted and then added a 54th minute penalty to put Stade Francais 20 points up.

African Liebenberg then added a 75th minute penalty with Dominguez rounding off an easy afternoon's work with his third penalty.