Nyakane injury concern as Racing 92 lose to Leinster
MATCH REPORT: Leinster secured the top spot in Champions Cup Pool A and home advantage in the knockout stage as they overcame Racing 92 26-10 in Dublin on Saturday.
Last season’s finalists had to work hard for their fourth straight bonus-point victory in the pool, crossing through Jimmy O’Brien (2), Hugo Keenan (2), Josh van der Flier and Garry Ringrose.
Racing were well in contention on the hour mark, with Janick Tarrit and Christian Wade getting over either side of half-time but were overrun in the closing stages.
The French side’s worries have been amplified after Trevor Nyakane was forced to leave the field with what appeared to be a nasty arm injury.
Leinster started strongly and got over for the first try of the game on 14 minutes as a brilliant backs move released centre Ringrose, whose offload allowed wing O’Brien to splash over out wide.
But the four-time champions struggled to find their rhythm following that score and saw wing Jordan Larmour yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on on 27 minutes.
Racing were enjoying a long period of pressure and eventually got over with Larmour in the sin bin, hooker Tarrit burrowing through a maul and planting down.
Flyhalf Finn Russell was unable to add the extras, as Leinster counterpart Ross Byrne had earlier, and the hosts ultimately went into the break with a two-point lead.
Russell was off target again with a penalty shortly after the restart but was the creator of Racing’s second try as he ghosted through the Leinster defence superbly before slinging the ball out to wing Wade, who finished with ease.
Leinster found a response on 52 minutes when replacement hooker Dan Sheehan made an industrious carry towards the Racing line and managed to get an offload away to full-back Keenan, who dotted down to put the Irish province back in front.
And they would eventually take control in the final quarter of an hour, with a well-worked lineout drive putting flanker van der Flier over before O’Brien’s mazy run and offload saw Keenan cross for a second time, securing the bonus point.
The floodgates were well and truly open as Leinster dotted twice more late on, Ringrose setting up O’Brien for his second with a cracking offload before finishing himself in the final play to cap a supreme performance.
The scorers
For Leinster:
Tries: O’Brien 2, Keenan 2, Van der Flier, Ringrose
Cons: R Byrne 2, H Byrne
For Racing 92:
Tries: Tarrit, Wade
Yellow card: Jordan Larmour (Leinster, 27)
Leinster: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Jordan Larmour, 13 Garry Ringrose (captain), 12 Jamie Osborne, 11 Jimmy O’Brien, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Caelan Doris, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Michael Ala’alatoa, 2 Rónan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Dan Sheehan, 17 Michael Milne, 18 Cian Healy, 19 Ross Molony, 20 Ryan Baird, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Harry Byrne, 23 Scott Penny
Racing 92: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Olivier Klemenczak, 12 Gael Fickou (captain), 11 Louis Dupichot, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Nolann Le Garrec, 8 Kitione Kamikamica, 7 Mahamadou Coulibaly, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Boris Palu, 4 Baptiste Chouzenoux, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Janick Tarrit, 1 Eddy Ben Arous
Replacements: 16 Péniami Narisia, 17 Guram Gogichashvili, 18 Gia Kharaishvili, 19 Anthime Hemery, 20 Maxime Baudonne, 21 Antoine Gibert, 22 Francis Saili, 23 Max Spring
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant Referees: Craig Maxwell-Keys (England), Gareth Holsgrove (England)
TMO: Ian Tempest (England)
@ChampionsCup
