Champions Cup: Racing 92 34-10 Glasgow
By Keith Moore
Last Updated: 11/01/16 9:57am
Racing 92 cemented their place at the top of Pool 3 in the Champions Cup with a 34-10 win over Glasgow Warriors.
Tries from each of the starting front rowers, one from a second rower and 12 points from the boot of Dan Carter was enough to hand the Top 14 leaders the win in front of their home fans.
A win from either of their remaining two games - Scarlets at home and Glasgow away - will see the Frenchmen progress to the quarter-finals of the competition. On the other hand Glasgow cannot afford to lose any more games if they are to stand a chance of qualifying for the knock-out stages.
The Scots will look back on a series of mistakes that kept their hosts in the game in the early stages, before Ben Tameifuna, hooker Dimitri Szarzewski, Eddy Ben Arous and Manuel Carizza all crossed for tries.
Both teams started the game with expansive intent, and though Racing 92 appeared the more threatening of the two, Glasgow were offered an early opportunity to open the scoring when Jonny Gray floated a long pass to Stuart Hogg on the outside. Hogg raced up the field and chose to cut inside the last defender instead of passing to the man in support, and knocked the ball on in the tackle.
Finn Russell then had a chance to give his team a three-point lead when the home side were penalised for not releasing, but the No 12 sent the effort wide in the wind. He made amends in the 15th minute with a successful kick at goal, but Hogg missed a long-distance attempt shortly thereafter to compound Glasgow's ineffective start to the game.
Racing drew level when they fought their way into the Glasgow half and the visitors conceded a penalty at the breakdown to hand Carter a shot at goal.
Things weren't level for very long, Johan Goosen broke into the Glasgow half and the French side held onto the ball patiently in the opposition 22, leading to a Tameifuna try to make it 10-3 after 30 minutes. Glasgow were close to scoring their first try moments from the break, but Leone Nakarawa knocked on near the line.
Racing then broke out and forced another penalty which Carter converted to give his side a 13-3 lead at half-time.
Racing 92 wasted no time increasing the deficit in the second half, with hooker Szarzewski claiming five points on the back of a driving maul. Ben Arous then put the game out of reach for the Scots with a score from close range which was also converted by Carter to make it 27-3 after 51 minutes.
Glasgow hit back with a try from Nakarawa at the end of the third quarter, and came close to adding another when Hogg ghosted through the French defence for a promising possession in the French half, but the hosts held out once more.
It looked as though Racing 92 would fail to claim the four-try bonus point, but a penalty gave them a lineout on the Warriors' line, and another driving maul ended with Carizza crashing over with no time remaining in the game.
