England star Marcus Smith nails long-range drop-goal as Harlequins shock Racing 92

A long-range drop goal from England star Marcus Smith helped Harlequins claim a famous 31-28 victory over Racing 92 in the Champions Cup in Paris on Sunday.

The international fly-half’s strike three minutes before half-time proved decisive in the end result as Quins kick-started their European season in perfect style on French soil.

Smith also scored Harlequins‘ first opening of the game while Springboks centre Andre Esterhuizen, England number eight Alex Dombrandt and hooker Jack Walker provided their other crossings as the Premiership outfit claimed a bonus-point triumph in Paris.

Racing 92‘s tries came via scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec, who scored an impressive hat-trick, and flanker Ibrahim Diallo, with fly-half Antoine Gibert converting all four scores.

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Le Garrec put Racing ahead with a converted try but Smith responded in kind and then converted again almost immediately after Esterhuizen crossed.

Smith added three further points with a drop goal from near halfway but the hosts reduced the deficit to 17-14 at half-time through a try from Gibert.

Racing were straight over again at the start of the second half, Le Garrec scoring his second try, and they opened up a 28-17 lead when Diallo crossed.

But Quins did not give up and tries from Dombrandt and Walker, both converted by Smith, gave them a 31-28 victory despite a late yellow card for Dino Lamb.

Harlequins will look to build on this win in their next game which is on home soil against Toulouse a week today while Racing 92 travel to Ulster next Saturday.

The teams

Racing 92: 15 Henry Arundell, 14 Vinaya Habosi, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Francis Saili, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Antoine Gibert, 9 Nolann le Garrec, 8 Wenceslas Lauret, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Ibrahim Diallo, 5 Boris Palu, 4 Cameron Woki, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Camille Chat, 1 Guram Gogichashvili
Replacements: 16 Jannick Tarrit, 17 Eddy Ben Arous, 18 Thomas Laclayat, 19 Baptiste Chouzenoux, 20 Jordan Joseph, 21 Clovis le Bail, 22 Tristan Tedder, 23 Henry Chavancy

Harlequins: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Nick David, 13 Will Joseph, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Danny Care, 8 Alex Dombrandt (c), 7 Will Evans, 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 5 Dino Lamb, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dillon Lewis, 2 Sam Riley, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 Irne Herbst, 20 James Chisholm, 21 Will Porter, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Oscar Beard

Referee: Frank Murphy (Ire)
Assistant Referees: Peter Martin (Ire), Paul Haycock (Ire)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ire)

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