Racing 92 see off Harlequins

MATCH REPORT: French giants Racing started their Champions Cup campaign with a hard-fought 23-12 win over Harlequins in Paris on Saturday.

There was precious little to separate the two sides during the first half at the Stade Dominique Duvauchelle with Racing 92 leading by 12-5 when heading in for the break.

An Alex Dombrandt try within the first 10 minutes was the order of the day for the visitors before the hosts struck back through Nolann le Garrec five minutes later.

The try-scorer then turned converter for the Ciel et Blanc to better what Marcus Smith couldn’t do following Dombrandt’s touchdown.

Racing 92 managed to put more daylight between themselves and ‘Quins when Wame Naituvi finished off a well-worked move down the right.

Despite coming out of the second-half blocks firing through a Will Porter try, the remainder of the second period was a half that didn’t seem to get going for Harlequins.

As for Racing 92, they managed to get more points to show for their efforts as the half aged, with a couple of converted Nolann Le Garrec penalties together with a Max Spring try helping them on their way to a 23-12 win over ‘Quins.

Both sides are in England for next weekend’s Champions Cup instalment with Racing 92 visiting Sale Sharks while Harlequins return home to host the Stormers.

The scorers:

For Racing 92:
Tries: Le Garrec, Naituvi, Spring
Con: Le Garrec
Pens: Le Garrec 2

For Harlequins:
Tries: Dombrandt, Porter
Con: Smith

Yellow cards: Lennox Anyanwu (Harlequins, 51′); Josua Tuisova (Racing 92, 78′); Ibrahim Diallo (Racing 92, 79′)

Teams:

Racing 92: 15 Max Spring, 14 Vinaya Habosi, 13 Gael Fickou (captain), 12 Josua Tuisova, 11 Wame Naituvi, 10 Antoine Gibert, 9 Nolann le Garrec, 8 Jordan Joseph, 7 Ibrahim Diallo, 6 Cameron Woki, 5 Fabien Sanconnie, 4 Boris Palu, 3 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 2 Janick Tarrit, 1 Guram Gogichashvili.
Replacements : 16 Camille Chat, 17 Lino Julien, 18 Gia Kharaishvili, 19 Maxime Baudonne, 20 Noa Zinzen, 21 Clovis le Bail, 22 Dan Lancaster, 23 Tristan Tedder.

Harlequins: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Cadan Murley, 13 Luke Northmore, 12 Lennox Anyanwu, 11 Nick David, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Will Porter, 8 Alex Dombrandt (captain), 7 Jack Kenningham, 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Dino Lamb, 3 Simon Kerrod, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Wyn Jones.
Replacements: 16 Sam Riley, 17 Jordan Els, 18 Titi Lamoistele, 19 James Chisholm, 20 Will Evans, 21 Danny Care, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Oscar Beard.

Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Keane Davison (Ireland), Stuart Gaffikin (Ireland)
TMO: Mark Patton (Ireland)