Racing power to victory over Glasgow

Racing 92 moved clear at the top of Pool 3 in the European Rugby Champions Cup by beating Glasgow Warriors 34-10 at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir in a rescheduled match.

The match had to be postponed following the Paris terror attacks in November and now all teams in Pool 3 have played four matches.

Racing earned the full five points from the match as they outscored Glasgow by four tries to one in the match and led 13-3 at half time before upping their game in the second half.

Racing lead on 17 points with Northampton Saints in second place with 10 points withc Glasgow trailing by a point. The Scarlets are last in Pool 3 with just two points from four matches.

Of all the teams who have now played four matches only Saracens (19) and Leicester Tigers (18) have more points than Racing’s 17 points.

The Parisian club proved far too powerful up front for the Scottish side, scoring four converted pushover tries.

Victory at home to already-eliminated Scarlets next weekend will secure Racing’s progress into the knock-out stages.

“The first objective was to win the match, put on a great performance and take the five points if we could,” said Racing coach Laurent Labit.

“In this European Cup we’ve had three bonus-point victories and a draw away from home in four matches, it’s a competition that suits us.

“Now we have a last match here against Scarlets to go to make sure of qualification.”

Glasgow’s Finn Russell missed his first penalty effort at a wind-swept Stade Yves-du-Manoir, but the fly-half was on target with his second attempt to hand the visitors an unlikely lead after a quarter of an hour.

Racing’s star man Dan Carter drew the scores level 10 minutes later with his own penalty and the one-way traffic continued when former Chiefs prop and one-time All Black hopeful Ben Tameifuna, weighing in at 134kg (21 stone), crashed over from short range.

Carter, the record points scorer in international rugby with 1,598 points from 112 caps, kicked the conversion and a second penalty shortly before half-time.

Racing opened the second period in complete control, skipper and hooker Dimitri Szarzewski driven over for the Parisian club’s second try, Carter making no mistake with the extras.

More forward power saw prop Eddy Ben Arous crash over as all three front-row forwards got on the scoresheet.

Glasgow’s outstanding Fijian lock Leone Nakawara claimed a try back after a smart lineout play following a rare foray into Racing territory, Russell kicking the conversion.

But Racing refocused and had the last laugh when Argentina lock Manuel Carizza was driven over the line for a bonus-point fourth try that leaves the Parisians top of the pool on 17 points, with just two games left, at home to Scarlets on January 17 and away to Glasgow on January 23.

Racing’s cross-city rivals Stade Francais host Munster in Saturday’s other game, in a round of matches rearranged in the wake of terror attacks in the French capital in November that left 130 people dead.

Last year’s runners-up Clermont stayed on course for the quarter-finals on Friday with a 28-10 win over Bordeaux-Begles.

Final Score Racing 92 34 (13) Glasgow Warriors 10 (3)

Scorers

Racing 92
Tries – Tameifuna, Szarzewski, Ben Arous, Carizza
Pen – Carter (2)
Con – Carter (3), Goosen
Drop –

Glasgow Warriors
Tries – Nakarawa
Pen – Russell
Con – Russell
Drop –

Match Officials
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland),
Assistant ref: Dudley Phillips (Ireland),
Assistant ref: Nigel Correll (Ireland),
TMO: Marshall Kilgore (Ireland),
Citing Commissioner: Peter Ferguson (Ireland)

Teams

Racing 92: Johannes Goosen; Juan Imhoff, Henry Chavancy, Alexandre Dumoulin, Marc Andreu; Dan Carter, Maxime Machenaud; Eddy Ben Arous, Dimitri Szarzewski (c), Ben Tameifuna, Luke Charteris, Manuel Carizza, Yannick Nyanga, Wenceslas Lauret, Chris Masoe

Replacements: Camille Chat, Julien Brugnaut, Luc Ducalcon, Bernard Le Roux, Antonie Claassen, Brice Dulin, Mike Phillips, Casey Laulala

Glasgow Warriors: Stuart Hogg; Taqele Naiyaravoro, Mark Bennett, Finn Russell, Sean Lamont; Duncan Weir, Ali Price; Gordon Reid, Pat MacArthur, Zander Fagerson, Leone Nakarawa, Jonny Gray (c), Ryan Wilson, Chris Fusaro, Adam Ashe

Replacements: Fraser Brown, Alex Allan, Sila Puafisi, Greg Peterson, Hugh Blake, Lee Jones, Samuel Johnson, Glenn Bryce