The 22-year-old was only given the nod for his first Heineken Cup start after Nick Robinson was ruled out with injury. But the youngster showed the coolest head in a sizzling Arms Park atmosphere to prove a match winner for the Blues with 16 points.
Having played an hour in Paris last week with a makeshift outside half after Jason Spice took the reins when Robinson aggravated a previous groin injury, they played the entire 80 minutes yesterday without a recognised fullback.
Ben Blair failed a late fitness test after pulling a hamstring 24 hours earlier so wing Jamie Roberts was handed a big opportunity to impress. That also meant centre Jamie Robinson stepped into the starting line-up and made an immediate impact with the game’s opening try.
Flanagan found Gareth Thomas steaming through the middle off his wing with a deft inside pass and the veteran showed the sort of composure that comes with 100 international caps to send Robinson in on just 11 minutes.
The Blues fed off the 12,000 crowd inside the Arms Park to unsettle the French giants for the second week in a row following their narrow 12-6 loss in Paris.
Julian Arias gave Stade a lifeline with a try on 40 minutes but Tom James showed tremendous strength and speed to hit back on the stroke of half-time. David Skrela kicked a penalty after the restart, but Paul Tito charged down the fly half’s clearance to score the Blues’ third on 43 minutes.
But the Blues failed to score a fourth for the bonus point and were forced to survive a nervous final ten minutes after Skrela added two more penalties and Antoine Burban scored in the corner.
But Flanagan showed a cool head to slot an injury-time drop goal that secured the win and denied Stade a losing bonus point.
