Racing 92 compound Leicester Tigers’ woes
Racing 92 consolidated their spot on top of Pool 4 by seeing off Leicester Tigers 36-26 in their Champions Cup clash at U Arena on Sunday.
The hosts had already secured the bonus point by half-time and went into the break with a 26-14 lead. Despite a valiant fight from Leicester in the second-half, which led to them picking up a bonus point of their own, they were unable to claw their way back.
Tigers suffered an early blow when Manu Tuilagi was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on. Racing 92 kicked for the corner, and it didn’t take long afterwards for Virimi Vakatawa to cross for the game’s first try in the ninth minute.
Racing’s second try was also initiated from a line-out. The French side worked the ball out wide, where Juan Imhoff extended their lead just four minutes after they opened the scoring.
However, Leicester hit back through Jonah Holmes in the 16th minute. The full-back, who received the ball from Ben White following a scrum, fought off several would-be tacklers to score.
Nevertheless, Racing reasserted their dominance through Simon Zebo, who broke through a gap in the defence to score the hosts’ third try.
Imhoff saw a second try ruled out by TMO Simon McDowell around the half-hour mark, as the ball had gone dead before he could ground it. However, shortly thereafter, Baptiste Chouzenoux crashed over to secure the bonus point.
Tigers refused to give in and crossed shortly before half-time. After a sustained build-up following a line-out, Sione Kalamafoni dived over the ruck to send Leicester into the break still in the contest.
The visitors picked up where they left off afterwards, with Jonny May’s burst putting them on the front foot and Mike Fitzgerald’s offload to Tuilagi leading to the outside centre scoring Leicester’s third try.
However, Tigers shot themselves in the foot again when Ellis Genge was yellow-carded for an infringement. Finn Russell then extended Racing’s lead to 10 points from the kicking tee.
The hosts then stretched their advantage beyond two converted tries when they ran back at Leicester following a clearing kick and Olivier Klemenczak crashed over from close range in the corner to finish off.
Nevertheless, Tigers were not finished, and George Ford’s brilliant piece of skill led to their bonus point try. The Tigers captain intercepted a pass to start the break before taking a quick line-out that set Adam Thompstone up to score.
However, it was too little, too late, as Racing secured their third win of the tournament in as many matches and Leicester’s poor form continued.
The scorers:
For Racing 92:
Tries: Vakatawa, Imhoff, Zebo, Chouzenoux, Klemenczak
Cons: Russell 4
Pen: Russell
For Leicester Tigers:
Tries: Holmes, Kalamafoni, Tuilagi, Thompstone
Cons: Ford 2, Toomua
Yellow Cards: Tuilagi, Genge
Racing 92: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Simon Zebo, 13 Virimi Vakatawa, 12 Olivier Klemenczak, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Teddy Iribaren, 8 Antonie Claassen, 7 Baptiste Chouzenoux, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Leone Nakarawa, 4 Bernard Le Roux, 3 Cedate Gomes Sa, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski (c), 1 Eddy Ben Arous
Replacements: 16 Ole Avei, 17 Guram Gogichashvili, 18 Ben Tameifuna, 19 Dominic Bird, 20 Boris Palu, 21 Antoine Gibert, 22 Louis Dupichot, 23 Ben Volavola
Leicester Tigers: 15 Jonah Holmes, 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Matt To’omua, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford (c), 9 Ben White, 8 Sione Kalafamoni, 7 Brendon O’Connor, 6 Michael Fitzgerald, 5 Harry Wells, 4 Will Spencer, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Jake Kerr, 17 Campese Ma’afu, 18 Gaston Cortes, 19 Mike Williams, 20 Will Evans, 21 Guy Thompson, 22 Ben Youngs, 23 Matt Smith
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Sean Gallagher (Ireland), Jonny Erskine (Ireland)
Television match official: Simon McDowell (Ireland)