The derby for Racing. Laurent Travers' men suffered but qualified for the semi-finals of the Top 14 after their play-off victory on the lawn of Jean Bouin, against Stade Français (33-20). The Racingmens join Toulouse for the poster of the first semi-final of the Top 14, which will take place in Anoeta on Friday, June 9.
To discover
- Schedule and results Top 14
- Top 14 Ranking
The Racing players were the most consistent throughout the game despite a huge air hole at the end of the first half that allowed the Parisians to completely return to the equation. Because before that, the Sky and White dominated the proceedings bringing the score up to 17-3 after two tries from Jan Imhoff (10th) and Wenceslas Lauret (18th) and a penalty from Finn Russell (26th).
It must be said that the turning point of the game helped them with a red card received by Marcos Kremer after five minutes of play for a clearing too much on Finn Russell. In the second half despite the score of parity at the break (17-17), the Ile-de-France controlled the debates better than their opponents of the day, putting them at fault several times. Finn Russell largely fed on these errors of the Stade Français to pass no less than three penalties (43rd, 51st and 55th) before Gaël Fickoud planted the try of victory on the siren (80th).
A very valiant Stade Français but too fair
Yet even at fourteen during almost the whole game the Pink Soldiers never really gave up. Led 17-3 before the half hour of play, they were able to react by relying on their strengths. The scrum and the touch. This season, the Parisians have been the most effective in these two areas of play, of the entire championship. They simply stepped on their opponents in the scrum especially in the last quarter of an hour of the first half, a first half that ended five minutes after the siren.
Penalized almost every time, the Racingmens lost back-to-back Camille Chat (38th) and Eddie Ben Arous (43rd) for two yellow cards. The Parisians pressed where it hurt and the repeated scrums got the better of the pack of Ciel et Blanc forwards who forced Mr. Pierre Brousset (referee of the match) to go under the posts to grant a penalty try to the Parisians (45th).
Enough to return to the locker room tied 17-17, because Sekou Macalou had already reduced the gap after a touch and a powerful maul (33rd). The second half will have only illustrated the numerical inferiority a time forgotten, which caused too much difficulty to the players of the Stade Français to hope to win.