Racing cruise into quarterfinals
EUROPEAN CUP MATCH REPORT: Racing 92 put in a stunning display of attacking rugby to defeat Edinburgh Rugby 56-3 on Sunday and secure a spot in the Champions Cup quarterfinals.
The Parisians ran in seven tries at the Paris La Defense Arena and proved much too strong for the Scottish outfit who were under pressure for most of the contest.
It actually took until the 26th minute for Racing to get over the try line, with the sides locked at 3-all until that point with Blair Kinghorn and Maxime Machenaud trading three-pointers.
The try came from an Edinburgh line-out that broke down, with Camille Chat collecting and inching within five metres of the line. After a few more powerful phases, Chat was handed the ball again and scored at the posts.
The second came just before the break as Virmi Vikatawa, Jordan Joseph, Louis Dupichot and finally Machenaud combined for a stunning score.
That meant the hosts led by 17 at the break, but they were far from finished.
Racing again took 25 minutes to score the first try of the half, with Joseph this time bulldozing over the whitewash.
Tries soon flowed after with Guram Gogichashvili crossing before Teddy Thomas grabbed a brace and Henry Chavancy rounded off the points.
The scorers
For Racing 92
Tries: Chat, Machenaud, Joseph, Gogichashvili, Thomas 2, Trinh-Duc
Cons: Machenaud 2, Iribaren 4
Pens: Machenaud 2, Gibert
Edinburgh
Pen: Kinghorn
Teams
Racing 92: 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Virimi Vakatawa, 12 Henry Chavancy (captain), 11 Louis Dupichot, 10 Antoine Gibert, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Jordan Joseph, 7 Baptiste Chouzenoux, 6 Ibrahim Diallo, 5 Donnacha Ryan, 4 Bernard Le Roux, 3 Cedate Gomes Sa, 2 Camille Chat, 1 Eddy Ben Arous.
Replacements: 16 Teddy Baubigny, 17 Guram Gogichashvili, 18 Ali Oz, 19 Dominic Bird, 20 Boris Palu, 21 Teddy Iribaren, 22 Francois Trinh-Duc, 23 Simon Zebo.
Edinburgh: 15 Damien Hoyland, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 James Johnstone, 12 George Taylor, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Blair Kinghorn, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (captain), 4 Magnus Bradbury, 3 WP Nel, 2 David Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Mike Willemse, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Mesulame Kunavula, 20 Luke Crosbie, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Mark Bennett.
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant referee: Tual Trainini, Cédric Marchat
TMO: Ian Tempest
Sources: @ChampionsCup