Steyn boot not enough to stop Racing92
TOP 14 WRAP: Stade remained second in the standings, but now trail Clermont, who thrashed Toulon on Saturday, by six points. Racing stayed third, but closed to within a point of their neighbours.
“We rediscovered some fundamentals,” said Racing backs coach Laurent Labit. “We scored points from all our good passages of play.”
In a tight match at Stade’s Jean Bouin stadium, both teams scored one try.
Morne Steyn made all his kicks, booting three penalties and a conversion for the home team. For Racing, Finn Russell went a crucial one point better, missing a conversion, but kicking all four penalties he attempted.
“The season is long,” said Racing coach Peter de Villiers. “There are important lessons to be learned from this derby because the matches at the end of the season will all be matches like this.”
Kylan Hamdaoui put Stade ahead in the 14th minute, taking a long pass from Steyn, throwing a dummy and darting through a gap to run more than 25 metres to the line. Steyn converted.
Racing went ahead just before half-time. Russell made a half break and flicked the ball out of contact to Henry Chavancy whose little pass left Virimi Vakatawa with a clear run to the line but looked suspiciously forward.
Stade was more expansive but could not pierce the Racing defence and the key blows in the second half were all kicks or punches.
“The defence has been one of our strengths for years,” said Labit.
Steyn kicked Racing two points ahead in the 57th minute.
Four minutes later, Stade back Djibril Camara punched Racing back-row forward Antonie Claassen who barely flinched. The blow only drew a yellow card, but Russell kicked the resulting penalty to put Racing back in front.
“There is always a line not to cross and it was an opponent who crossed it and did us a favour,” said Labit.
Playing a man short, Stade pressed and won a penalty for a high tackle but Plisson, who had replaced Steyn after 65 minutes, missed the difficult attempt.
“Dominating is not winning, we know that very well,” said Yoann Maestri the Stade captain. “We were too undisciplined but that is linked to the quality of Racing who put us under pressure and frustrated us in many areas.”
On Saturday, Clermont eased past struggling Toulon with a bonus point 28-8 win to stretch their lead.
Victory for Clermont was their fifth of the season and was the perfect reply after losing against Bordeaux last weekend.
“It was a good performance tonight,” said Clermont scrum-half Morgan Parra. “We knew that Toulon would come here fired up so to get five points is very satisfying.”
For big-spending Toulon, who was fourth last season, it was a fourth defeat in six games and left them fourth from bottom.
Argentinian flyhalf Benjamin Urdapilleta was the hero for defending champions Castres as he hit a late drop-goal and penalty to seal a last-gasp 26-22 victory over Toulouse.
Toulouse raced to a 20-point lead but Urdapilleta converted a brace of tries by American Samoa-born No 8 Alex Tulou before his 72nd minute drop-goal handed Castres the lead for the first time, a third penalty two minutes later confirming what had seemed an unlikely victory.
“What an incredible match!” beamed Castres flanker Babillot.
In other matches, Montpellier kept Perpignan, at one point down to 13 men, winless and firmly rooted to the bottom of the table with a narrow 23-20 away win.
Bordeaux-Begles outscored La Rochelle four tries to two in a 34-22 victory, while Fiji-born France winger Noa Nakaitaci helped Lyon to a 34-6 bonus-point walloping of Grenoble in the Alps derby.
Lyon’s international scrum-half Baptiste Couilloud suffered a serious ankle injury and could miss at least three months of action.
Antoine Hastoy scored 23 points including a 76th-minute penalty to help Pau to a nail-biting 28-25 win over Agen.
Agence France-Presse
