Had Chris Cook gathered a potential interception chance and George Ford – who had already landed two splendid drop-goals – not narrowly missed a third effort, Michalak's late strike following a ruck offence by Bath might have brought only partial salvation.
With half an hour remaining, Goode reduced the arrears to only four points when he fired over a splendid drop-goal from close on 50 metres.
Suddenly the game changed, and Stade won comfortably enough in the end, with Martin Rodríguez kicking 17 of their points through four penalties from five attempts, a simple conversion of an opportunist try for Guillaume Bousses, and a splendid long-range drop goal.
Conversely, whenever the fantastical looms, however splendid, my attention drops.
Langella employs a similar watchfulness in his splendid new book, "Dropped Names".
Nadal takes the advantage again, prompting Murray to shout "Stay on your forehand!" at himself, before getting it back to deuce with a splendid stretch for a drop-shot to foil an attempted Nadal pass.
But he's nearly deaf and has gone a bit soft," and after a bit he adds, "People don't deserve such a splendid house, now, when they're dropping bombs on everything".
They had brains enough this week not to drop any of their usual hints about what a splendid president Mr. Bloomberg would make despite his public insistence that he has no interest in the job.
Williams finds creativity in creatures great and small, but went to a most reliable source -- her father -- to top off her splendid new release, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone, which drops today Sept . 30).
Then Kouchner dropped me off, and the car drove him to his splendid apartment overlooking the Luxembourg Gardens.
It was a splendid demonstration of the shortest form of the game, producing from the drop-in pitch 23 sixes, which in essence is what it is all about.
