DUNCAN HODGE had just helped engineer one of the greatest miracle comebacks in Edinburgh's rugby history but there were no high fives and smiles. He was still fuming and not trying to hide it. "How can we be that bad and then that good? That is the frustrating thing. I am still pretty angry about it," he said.

"The first half just was not us. Not even close. I can handle mistakes, but I cannot handle the way we performed. There was a lack of energy, we were walking to the lineout, walking to the scrums. We were playing a team that we needed to beat with tempo because we think we are fitter than them but we were slow on everything. It was nowhere near good enough."

Among the many things that were impressive about the comeback was that it was achieved despite played 25 minutes with only 14 men after Phil Burleigh was sent off for a push-come-punch on Pascal Pape, the French lock and captain.

That did nothing to improve Hodge's mood. "We are raging. Phil is upset and I am very angry with him because it is indiscipline, totally. We were in the wrong, I am not trying to get away from that," he said.

All of which is true, and nobody was arguing with the sanction, but Pape is 6ft 5ins and weighs more than 18 stone; Burleigh is 5ft 11ins and weighs less than 15 stone. Yet the theatric way that Pape collapsed made it look as though he had been laid out by the heavyweight champion of the world. For the sake of the game you'd hope somebody in officialdom will take action.

"By the letter of the law it is probably a red card but I don't like to see how they behaved," added Hodge. "I don't want to go there, I will get myself into trouble."

The result means that half way through the European Challenge Cup pool stage Edinburgh are in a strong position with a 100 percent winning record, two points clear of Harlequins, who they play in London in January, and eight clear of Stade ahead of the return match on Thursday.

Edinburgh had got themselves into trouble with Waisea Nayacalevu Vuidravuwalu, the centre, crashing over in the opening minutes and Sekou Macalou, the flanker, 20 minutes later. With Morne Steyn adding drop goal and a penalty the French were 20-3 ahead at the break and frustrated it was not more.

Edinburgh's fightback was launched by Damien Hoyland on a set move, with Ben Toolis then being driven over from a maul before Burleigh seemed to leave his colleagues in the Sam Hidalgo-Clyne's try and sealed the game with two Duncan Weir penalties.

The question for Hodge is whether that scale of comeback could be the launchpad to a revival in the second half of the season. "That has given us a shock but it also proves something," he said. "I am incredibly proud of them for winning that game, they have done something phenomenal there but it has to be a lesson.

"We can do some great stuff but we can't leave ourselves with so much to do. It has been the same the last few weeks, we have given away cheap points – penalties and tries.

"Against good teams you are not going to pull back 14-point deficits. We talked about the mental side this week and that is what we have got to change. It is collective but it is also about individuals. That is what we have got to shift."

It was not just the coaches who were angry despite the result. After winning the man of the match award and scoring a try on only his fourth start of the season Hidalgo-Clyne might have been celebrating after proving a point to himself and the coaches but he was just as frustrated as Hodge.

"That was by no means anything to be proud of – the first half certainly," he said. "We went out with a gameplan and just did not execute at all.

"We were going back, our scrums were poor and our kicking game was not good enough. We were kicking it out on the full, we were giving away penalty after penalty and being driven back into our own half. It was not an ideal first half."

A few clear-the-air home truths at half time did the trick, with most of the main players contributing. "We earned it in the second half," Hidalgo-Clyne said. "We played a lot better but it could easily have gone the wrong way if we had not changed things at the half-time.

"I would not say that we were lucky, I would say that we earned the win, but you cannot play only 40 minutes of rugby and expect to win."

Scorers:

Edinburgh: Tries: Hoyland (46), Toolis (52), Hidalgo-Clyne (61). Cons: Weir 2. Pens: Weir 2 (65, 80).

Stade Francais: Tries: Vuidarvuwalu (3), Macalou (22). Cons: Steyn 2. DG: Steyn (7). Pen: Steyn 2 (38, 58)

Scoring sequence (Edinburgh first): 0-7, 0-10, -17, 3-17, 3-20 (half time), 8-20, 15-20, 15-23, 22-23, 25-23, 28-23.

Edinburgh: B Kinghorn; D Hoyland, M Allen, P Burleigh (sent off: 55), W Helu; D Weir, S Hidalgo-Clyne; A Dickinson (A Dell, 41), S McInally (R Ford, 59), M McCallum (S Berghan, 41), B Toolis, G Gilchrist (C) (F McKenzie, 69), V Mata (C Du Preez, 74), H Watson, M Bradbury.

Stade Francais: J Sinzelle; J Arias (T Millet, 69), W Nayacalevu, P Williams (sin bin: 25-35), J Raisuqe; M Steyn, W Genia; H Van der Merwe (Z Zhvania, 60), L Panis (R Bonfils, 50), G Melikidze (E Felsina, 66), P Gabrillagues, P Papé (C) (H Pyle, 70), S Macalou, M De Giovanni, W Alberts (P Sio, 44).

Referee: C Maxwell-Keys (England)

Attendance: 4055