Scarlets suffer Champions Cup loss to 14-man Racing 92
Last Updated: 22/11/15 12:34pm
Scarlets' hopes of advancing from Pool 3 of the European Champions Cup dealt a blow with a 29-12 loss to 14-man Racing 92.
The French side had Bernard Le Roux sent off but still secured a bonus-point victory at Parc y Scarlets, scoring four first-half tries.
Scrum-half Maxime Machenaud, Joe Rokocoko, Chris Masoe and Marc Andreu all crossed for the visitors, who played most of the second period with 14 men after flanker Le Roux was sent off for stamping.
Scarlets made the most of the one-man advantage, with their tries coming from Aled Thomas and Lewis Rawlins, but they failed to claim a losing bonus point.
Racing showed Scarlets how to play attacking rugby in the first half, stunning the Welsh region with two tries in the space of 10 minutes and another two before half-time.
On eight minutes Racing attacked the blindside when former New Zealand wing Rokocoko put a kick down the right touchline and Machenaud beating DTH van der Merwe to the ball.
And Scarlets were again undone down the right as Johan Goosen released Rokocoko, with Machenaud adding the extras.
It was 19-0 on 28 minutes when Le Roux broke clear after a scrum and Masoe was on hand to slide in for the third try, converted by Machenaud.
Racing brought up the bonus point in the final act of the first half when Machenaud nursed the blindside again to put Andreu clear down the left for a 26-0 interval lead.
Racing suffered a setback at the start of the second half when Le Roux was shown the straight red card for a stamp on Scarlets prop Phil John at a ruck.
Referee Greg Garner had no doubt in his mind to send off Le Roux having been made aware of the foul play by the TMO Keith Lewis.
After hammering at Racing's line, Scarlets finally broke through with full-back Thomas going over and as the home side came with wave after wave of attack, Racing went down to 13 men after 65 minutes with replacement prop Ben Tameifuna being sent to the sin bin.
Rawlins was able to squeeze over for the second try with Thomas adding the extras, leaving Scarlets trailing by 14 with as many minutes remaining.
However, their comeback hopes were ended by Johan Goosen, who kicked a 70th-minute penalty to complete a first win in Wales for Racing.