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Connacht push Racing 92 all the way in Paris
Connacht claimed a losing bonus point as they were defeated 26-22 by Racing 92 in their Heineken Champions Cup opener in Paris. Tries from Georges-Henri Colombe, Kurtley Beale, Sebastien Taofifenua and Dominic Bird, along with six points from the boots of Teddy Iribaren and Maxime Machenaud, secured a bonus point victory for last season’s beaten finalists.
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Matt Healy, Alex Wootton and Conor Oliver claimed tries for Andy Friend’s side while Jack Carty and Tom Daly kicked seven points between them
The hosts started strongly with tighthead prop Colombe powering his way over the line after five minutes following a powerful driving lineout with Iribaren converting.
Connacht enjoyed a period of pressure with Carty kicking their first points after Racing were penalised for not rolling away.
But the visitors struggled to cope with Racing’s firepower behind the scrum and the French giants were soon celebrating their second try.
Racing spread the ball wide to outside centre Virimi Vakatawa who bumped off an attempted tackle from Healy.
The France international raced clear into the Connacht 22 before offloading to Australian great Beale to touch down with Iribaren again adding the extras.
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Connacht struggled to cope with Racing’s maul which put the French club on the front foot.
With numerous Connacht defenders sucked into the maul the ball was spun wide to Finn Russell whose long pass released Vakatawa who shipped the ball onto Taofifenua. The young wing claimed their third try with a sensational acrobatic finish at the far left-hand corner.
Donovan Taofifénua with an okayish finish on his Heineken Champions Cup debut
Just okay like…? #R92vCON pic.twitter.com/6KYDhm9ZlB
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 13, 2020
Connacht laid siege to the Racing try line in the final 15 minutes of the first half and came mightily close to crossing the whitewash when Ultan Dillane was put into space courtesy of a well-timed pop pass from Paul Boyle.
The second row galloped towards the line but was denied by a brave try-saving tackle by Iribaren which forced the Ireland international to spill the ball forward.
But Connacht were rewarded for their efforts on the stroke of half-time when Healy beat Teddy Thomas in the air to score after a tremendous cross-kick from Carty.
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The outside-half missed the conversion, though, meaning Connacht turned around 19-8 behind.
Racing claimed their bonus point try with former All Black second row Bird touching down from short range after another powerful driving lineout from the hosts. Iribaren kicked the touchline conversion to push Racing into a 26-8 lead with half an hour to go.
Racing continued to apply pressure and looked like they were over again but Machenaud’s pass was intercepted by Wootton who ran the length of the field to score with Carty converting.
Beale had a try disallowed after a pass from Thomas was deemed to be forward and Connacht ensured a grandstand finish when Oliver crashed over from short range, leaving the score at 26-22 with four minutes to go.
Connacht pushed hard for a winner but Racing’s defence held firm.
Comments on RugbyPass
I knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
102 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
102 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
102 Go to commentsHo hum.
102 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
102 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
102 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
102 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
102 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
102 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
102 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
102 Go to commentsAnd they came from behind to win two big games before the final. No one can say what would have happened. Had the boks gone behind the game plan changes and the result may changes. Ifs and ands are irrelevant. The boks won. Neutral critics enjoyed the games they played. Its not a popularity contest. Get over it and move on.
102 Go to commentsI'm happy for the people of SA to get a second WC. And I mean that. I was very disappointed with this man's “stand on the hand” incident with Josh Van Der Flyer (Ireland). Ireland's downfall in the last WC was they did not rotate their first 15 as the head coach probably should have. That said, I'm happy for SA and genuinely hope it lifts the mood in their country. Ireland did beat them in the first match of the tournament. And before the trolls start trolling ….. please don't bother. Etzbeth said recently that the Irish players said after the match “see you in the final”…..this was actually wishing the SA team the best of luck in the rest, the Irish team were not dismissing the AB’s. This is what Etzbeth was implying. But he was wrong. I no longer live in Ireland. But I hope to see them lift that cup before I pass. Anyway, congratulations SA. 👍
12 Go to commentsMore bloody click bait. Dan Carter has said absolutely nothing. As he should do. Poor journalism again from a site that should know better
9 Go to commentsOh god please help these loosers get over it!!!! You lost. Doesn't matter how many times you dummies are gonna analyse the game, you still lost and we are still Rygby World Champions….get over it, you lost.
102 Go to commentsThe next Willie le Roux. SA are made not to use him.
3 Go to commentsDan has always been as controversial as tea with milk so we were never going to get any definitive answer. So DMac for the win.
9 Go to comments