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Watch: Virimi Vakatawa's in-goal howler costs Racing 92 in thrilling Top 14 encounter with Toulon

(Source/Canal +)

Racing 92’s star centre Virimi Vakatawa went from hero to zero briefly after costing his side a much-needed try in his side’s 29-23 loss at home to Toulon in the latest round of the Top 14.

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The blunder occurred as Vakatawa casually jogged into the in-goal, failing to put the ball down quickly as Toulon winger Gabin Villiere snuck up behind him. The ball was dislodged in the tackle and bounced over the dead ball line.

The would-be try came after brilliant lead-up work from Racing’s winger Teddy Thomas, who drew three Toulon players before throwing a basketball-style offload back inside over the top to Vakatawa.

Down 17-3 after 20-minutes, Racing desperately needed the score but Vakatawa quickly made amends combining with the likes of Russell and Thomas to threaten Toulon’s defence. After one break, Vakatawa linked up with Thomas with a no-look reverse flick pass.

Racing’s first try came after a quick tap from a scrum before Russell’s pinpoint cross-kick found Thomas out wide. The break continued with Vakatawa down into Toulon’s 22 before Russell linked up with Wenceslas Lauret on the opposite side for the try on the next phase.

Almost immediately after, Russell put Vakatawa into a gap on first phase directly outside former All Black Ma’a Nonu. The French international centre broke away downfield before finding Teddy Thomas in support to score under the posts.

https://youtu.be/3uzJvwo9_dA?t=10

Just like that, Racing hit the front 20-17 on the back of some scintillating play from their stars Vakatawa, Thomas and Russell.

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Toulon drew level 20-20 on the stroke of halftime before edging ahead in the second half with three penalties. Vakatawa’s missed try could have made the difference in the end, as Racing 92 lost by six points.

The heavyweight fixture was a who’s who of global rugby, with international stars Kurtley Beale, Eben Etzebeth, Baptiste Serin, Ma’a Nonu, Finn Russell, Charles Ollivon, Virimi Vakatawa, Sergio Parrise, Isaiah Toeava and Teddy Thomas on the pitch.

Mourad Boudjellal is delivering on his promise to re-build the club this season,  the away win allowed Toulon to move into 4th position on the ladder, just one behind 3rd-placed Racing 92.

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Flankly 37 minutes ago
Late Makazole Mapimpi try earns the Sharks win away to Edinburgh

Jake White described this as the strongest Sharks lineup ever. There is no doubt that it is at least an impressive roster. They did win, which is obviously an achievement against a good Edinburgh side. However …


For much of the first half Edinburgh seemed easily able to create 2 on 1 opportunities on both wings, with the defensive wingers biting in on the inside runner and cover defence being AWOL. Conversely the Sharks showed little ability to get behind the Edinburgh defensive line, with the sole exception of a nicely-exploited Am mismatch against a second row (which led to the Fassi try).


In general the Sharks, with their full complement of Bok firepower, do not look that dangerous in attack, and while tackling was good on the whole and goal line defence was impressive at times, they were exhibiting surprising breakdowns in open play defensive structures.


Also, the Sharks continue to be inaccurate, with material impact on the scoreboard. Missing two very kickable penalties is not the way to be the best. It looked to me like the Sharks contestable kicks were not well enough executed, and were too hard to recover.


Not sure what the running attack was trying to do, but my guess is that they were trying to pull off a Harlequins-style bash-and-offload game off of 12 (Esterhuizen). That’s not a terrible idea with the personnel available, but it would require creativity and a precision on second phase that was not in evidence.


Lastly, you have to have better discipline. It’s great that the team can cope with a 13 vs 14 period (of almost 10 minutes), but smart teams a avoid cards.


Having said that it was great to see the win. I thought that Edinburgh were cynical and niggly. Always hanging around on the wrong side of the breakdown, lots of intentional obstruction, illegal dummying at the base of the ruck, etc. They played a dirty game and the ref tolerated it. Always good to see that not succeed.


Overall the “best Sharks lineup ever” scraped the win, but under-performed their Bok-laden potential. Again.

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