Sexton lifts Racing Metro
Flyhalf Johnny Sexton returned to Top 14 duty after Ireland's Six Nations triumph last weekend and lifted Racing Metro to a 12-6 win at Bayonne.
In a wet and windy match in south-west France, Sexton kicked six points as the Paris-based club warmed up for their first ever European Cup quarterfinal appearance next week against Saracens.
The win moves Racing up to third, six points behind leaders Toulon and Clermont, but provisionally ahead of Stade Francais, who also have 55 points.
Leaders Toulon host Toulouse and Stade Francais host Clermont on Saturday.
"It was a very good evening because we wanted to get our heads back in place after our last outing at Brive (36-12 loss)," said Racing coach Laurent Labit.
"We can now turn towards what's awaiting us next week in the European Cup — an historic match for the club.
"We knew it would be difficult, it wasn't the match of the season but we did what we needed and it's very satisfying to achieve our fourth away victory."
Bayonne, sitting 10th, had gained some breathing space following their last-gasp victory over Castres last weekend, but missed a chance to pull away from fellow strugglers Brive and La Rochelle who travel to Oyonnax and Bordeaux respectively on Saturday.
Racing arrived with ambition after losing to Brive last weekend and strengthened by the return of Sexton and Wales scrum-half Mike Phillips.
The visitors led 6-3 at half-time thanks to two penalties off Sexton's boot on 7 and 28 minutes, although Argentine full-back Buston Moyano pulled one back for Bayonne after 33 minutes.
Racing lacked efficiency on their return from the locker room and failed to take advantage of their numerical advantage after Bayonne back Scott Spedding was sinbinned.
Moyano kicked a 65-minute penalty to pull Bayonne level, but the hero of the Castres game, missed another penalty nine minutes later with Maxime Machenaud sealing victory for Racing with two penalty kicks on 72 and 79 minutes.
Top 14 table
(played, won, drawn, lost, points for, points against, bonus points, total points):
Toulon 20 13 0 7 550 375 9 61
Clermont 20 13 1 6 496 329 7 61
Racing Metro 21 12 1 8 421 396 5 55
Stade Francais 20 12 0 8 457 443 7 55
Toulouse 20 11 0 9 397 378 5 49
Grenoble 20 10 0 10 484 565 7 47
Bordeaux 20 9 0 11 537 446 9 45
Oyonnax 20 10 0 10 390 396 5 45
Montpellier 20 9 1 10 387 380 5 43
Bayonne 21 8 1 12 382 412 7 41
Brive 20 9 0 11 404 466 4 40
La Rochelle 20 8 2 10 401 511 4 40
Lyon 20 7 0 13 355 458 6 34
Castres 20 7 0 13 377 483 6 34
Agence France-Presse
