Racing 92 won their first match of the season on Saturday against Clermont (33-20) for the second day of the Top 14 thanks in particular to three tries in six minutes just after the hour mark.
After the narrow defeat against Castres at the start of the championship (31-28), Racing 92 was already under a bit of pressure when it came to hosting Clermont, the only team with Toulouse to have finished the first day with the offensive bonus against Pau (39-7).
The Racingmen gave themselves a scare, particularly at the start of the second half, where they even found themselves behind Clermont after an hour of play, after a long period of domination (20-16).
But the conceded try reawakened their pride and the Ciel et Blanc scored three times in quick succession, through Arundell (64), Fickou (67) and Le Garrec (69) for his return after his left shoulder injury, each time to the far left of the in-goal area.
– The 400th for Chavancy –
These three tries allowed English fly-half Owen Farrell to get his sights on the ball as he only converted one of the three conversions, the last one. Overall, and as against Castres last weekend, the team’s star recruit in the off-season struggled to find his marks, both on the foot (3/6) and in the game, with in particular a forward pass on a high ball and a yellow card just before half-time.
For the first of three receptions relocated to Créteil, the Ciel et Blanc quickly made a point of marking their territory with a try from pillar Thomas Laclayat following a Clermont clearance blocked by third row Jordan Joseph.
But the Racingmen were generally imprecise in the first half, as illustrated by the two kicks directly into touch by Daniel Lancaster, the son of coach Stuart Lancaster, starting for the first time. Clermont was thus able to hang on and even go ahead twice, for a few minutes each time.
The Sky and Whites also failed to score a fifth time to obtain the offensive bonus, despite constant pressure during the last ten minutes.
The match was also marked by the 400th appearance in the Ciel et Blanc jersey of Henry Chavancy, 36, to whom all the players formed a guard of honour at the end of the match. His entry onto the pitch coincided with the acceleration of Racing 92.
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