Stade Francais head coach Ewen McKenzie © Getty Images

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Tournaments/Tours Heineken Cup

Ewen McKenzie believes he has joined Stade Francais at the perfect time as the capital club resume their hunt for silverware after a year to forget last season.

A mountainous injury list and the after-effects of a draining, six-week-long World Cup left its traces on Stade during the 2007-08 campaign, which they emerged from empty-handed without coming close to honours either domestically or in Europe. It proved to be Fabien Galthie's last campaign in charge and he was replaced as coach by McKenzie, the former Australia prop who left the Waratahs for a spell in Paris.

Having a galaxy of talent at your disposal has never guaranteed instant success, but McKenzie is making a decent fist of it. Stade have started the season on fire - they sit unbeaten at the summit of the Top 14 - and McKenzie is getting the best out of star fly-half Juan Martin Hernandez, who the Australian has already hailed as the "complete player''. Mark Gasnier, who has crossed codes to take a stab at union, has also settled in quickly following his switch from Australian rugby league.

Champions of France five times over the past 10 years, scaling the domestic heights has never been a problem for Stade. Winning the Heineken Cup has, however, and the best they have done is runners-up finishes in 2001 and 2005. McKenzie reckons this season may be the ideal time to conquer Europe. "Last year was difficult for us,'' he said. "A lot of players had a long season because of the World Cup and the players struggled towards the end.

"I have been lucky in that the players are fresh this season, they are keen to go and there are no distractions in front of them. I have arrived at the right time. And at the moment, we are doing well - and we still have 10 very good players not playing. We are still being competitive. I know that in the new year we will get four or five experienced players back and that will give us another injection.''

Stade's run of wins in the Top 14 this season has been based on a robust defence, a sound kicking game from the likes of Hernandez and France fly-half Lionel Beauxis and some opportunistic finishing. They have done nothing spectacular so far but McKenzie has them going in the right direction.

On current form, the Parisians have nothing to fear from a Heineken Cup pool that also includes Scarlets, Ulster and Harlequins. "Being able to compete on both fronts, that's the challenge,'' added McKenzie, whose side face Ulster first up on Saturday. "The trick is to get through to Christmas and then have another look.

"Yes, there is a lot of luck involved but if you look at the form line right now, I'd like to think there is an opportunity for us there. The challenge for us is getting used to going from the Top 14 to the Heineken Cup and then back again.

"I just like to win, so I want to go for everything. I know the French championship is very important so it's important to be at the right end of the table there. I don't think people are going to put that to one side and say we aren't going to worry about that in preference to Europe. You have to have a foot in both camps. But we want to do well in this Heineken Cup.''

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