Racing 92 revolts but suffers the law of Toulouse

Racing 92 : 17
Toulouse : 21

Outclassed by Stade Français (40-24) last weekend in the Paris region derby, Racing feared the arrival of the reigning champions. Even without Dupont, Mauvaka, Meafou or other Blues left to rest, the Toulouse squad looked good with Ramos, Ntamack or Marchand.

These fears quickly proved to be justified, as Stuart Lancaster's players suffered from the overwhelming domination of Toulouse during the first period.

Cornered in their camp, undisciplined (11 penalties in the first period), the Ile-de-France residents were fortunate not to have completely lost the score in the first period (0-11), helped by Toulouse's blunders.

Shaken in the second period, Toulouse managed to get back on track to secure a second victory after that against Perpignan (41-9), consolidating its leadership position.

Clumsy Toulouse domination

The match immediately got off to a bad start for Racing, with South African full-back Tristan Tedder cut out by Argentinian center Santiago Chocobares and conceding a penalty on the halfway line, missed by Ramos.

But even if the Red and Black monopolized the ball, they struggled to string together playing times, and it was in force, after a maul (33^e), that the omnipresent English third row Jack Willis scored the first try of the match.

A few minutes later, Toulouse failed to protect itself from the score, making a mistake on a new maul (37^e) which seemed to go to the test.

Racing is recovering

Returning with other intentions from the locker room, Racing was much more aggressive, in turn pushing the visitors to increase the number of mistakes.

The hooker Janick Tarrit sounded the revolt behind a maul (46^e), before a few minutes later, Jordan Joseph, also off the bench, doubled the lead and went in front with a try converted by Le Garrec (14-11, 54^e), facing Toulouse reduced to 14 for a Chocobares fault.

Now fierce in the fight, the Ile-de-France residents recovered a ground penalty, converted by Le Garrec (17-11, 67^e). But a final try from Merkler (71^e), transformed by Ramos despite his foot difficulties of the day, allowed Toulouse to regain the score, sealed by a new penalty from the Blues scorer (21-17, 75^e).

The sheet

Half time: 0-11.
Referee: M. Brousset.
Racing 92 : 2E Tarrit (45^e), Joseph (54^e) ; 2T Le Garrec (45^e54^e) ; 1P Le Garrec (67^e).
Toulouse : 2E Willis (31^e), Merks (71^e) ; 1T Ramos (71^e) ; 3P Ramos (4^e12^e75^e).
Yellow card: au Racing, Lancaster (74^e) ; in Toulouse, Chocobares (53^e).