Leicester Tigers' hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages of this season's Champions Cup ended on Saturday night as they lost 34-3 to last season's runners-up Racing 92.
Munster Rugby’s 14-12 victory over Glasgow Warriors in Scotland earlier in the day had thrown Tigers a lifeline in Pool 1 and the chance of taking second place. But it wasn't to be.
Tigers were undone by a slow first-half performance in Paris, during which they conceded three tries to a Freddie Burns penalty.
Dan Carter was at the heart of everything for Racing, the defending French champions. The legendary All Blacks fly-half pulled the strings as they scored through Xavier Chauveau, Marc Andreu and a penalty try before the break. Gerbrandt Grobler scored the bonus-point fourth try for the hosts in the second period before Andreu grabbed a second late on.
It left Tigers on eight points in the group, six behind Glasgow with the two sides set to meet at Welford Road on Saturday.
Mathew Tait returned from a broken jaw to start at full-back. Freddie Burns moved to fly-half as Owen Williams missed out with the elbow injury he sustained at Wasps last week.
In the pack there was a return for Graham Kitchener and Lachlan McCaffrey. Harry Thacker, Luke Hamilton and Jack Roberts were included among the replacements.
Racing 92 threatened early in the game when Carter ghosted through a gap midway inside his half and into Tigers territory. He had Joe Rokocoko on his outside but when the ball was moved back inside it went to ground with the Leicester defence struggling to regroup.
Carter was at the centre of everything in the early exchanges and his kick to the opposite flank was shepherded out by Tait with Andreu in pursuit.
Eventually the early pressure told and Racing scored the opening try. Tigers ran out of bodies to defend the pick-and-go and scrum-half Chauveau dived over from close range. Carter missed the conversion but landed a long-range penalty to move Racing 8-0 ahead after 15 minutes.
Burns went off for blood treatment and was replaced by Sam Harrison. But Harrison could do nothing as Andreu swooped on a loose pass to out-run the Tigers defence and score under the posts. Carter’s conversion extended Racing’s lead to 15-0.
Tigers were unable to get a foothold in the game. Instead, it needed Tait’s tackle to halt Grobler’s run 5m from the line. Carter’s crossfield kick beat Andreu into touch at the next phase.
Burns pumped a penalty up to the Racing 22, to give Tigers their first real period of pressure. They were awarded a penalty for a high tackle on Will Evans and Burns’s kick put them on the board seven minutes before the break.
Racing had the chance to respond when Adam Thompstone was caught under a high ball but Carter was off target with the penalty. However, Tait knocked on as he collected the ball to give Racing a 5m scrum.
And they made Tigers pay with a third try on the stroke of half-time. Grobler forced his way over from close range, despite the efforts of Dan Cole and Peter Betham. Carter’s conversion gave Racing a 22-3 lead at the break.
Ed Slater was replaced by Mike Fitzgerald at half-time.
Racing picked up where they left off in the second period, probing the Tigers defence with Carter at the heart of things.
Frustration got the better of Cole, who was pinged for a barge on Carter. The former All Black fly-half sent the penalty to the corner from where Racing had Tigers under huge pressure. Evans dragged down the drive on the line, which resulted in a penalty try and a yellow card for the Tigers back-rower.
Tigers got their lineout drive going at the other end. And just as they looked set to score Antonie Claassen pulled down the maul. He was shown a yellow card but this time there was no penalty try for the Tigers.
The lineout was the source for another attack moments later. This time Tigers did cross the line but Racing held up the ball. Tigers went again with another lineout. Racing went offside but Cole drove on and over the line but again Racing got bodies under the ball.
Luke Hamilton came on at the end of Wells’s sin-bin period and Harry Thacker replaced Tom Youngs.
The set-piece was a solid platform from which to attack for the Tigers, and they threatened again from a 5m scrum. But again they were unable to find a way through the Racing defence before Fitzgerald was pinged for holding on a yard short.
Despite all of their efforts, Tigers were unable to find a way through, Instead Racing finished the game with a flourish when Andreu finished smartly at the left corner after neat hands by Grobler and Albert VuliVuli.
Munster Rugby’s 14-12 victory over Glasgow Warriors in Scotland earlier in the day had thrown Tigers a lifeline in Pool 1 and the chance of taking second place. But it wasn't to be.
Tigers were undone by a slow first-half performance in Paris, during which they conceded three tries to a Freddie Burns penalty.
Dan Carter was at the heart of everything for Racing, the defending French champions. The legendary All Blacks fly-half pulled the strings as they scored through Xavier Chauveau, Marc Andreu and a penalty try before the break. Gerbrandt Grobler scored the bonus-point fourth try for the hosts in the second period before Andreu grabbed a second late on.
It left Tigers on eight points in the group, six behind Glasgow with the two sides set to meet at Welford Road on Saturday.
Mathew Tait returned from a broken jaw to start at full-back. Freddie Burns moved to fly-half as Owen Williams missed out with the elbow injury he sustained at Wasps last week.
In the pack there was a return for Graham Kitchener and Lachlan McCaffrey. Harry Thacker, Luke Hamilton and Jack Roberts were included among the replacements.
Racing 92 threatened early in the game when Carter ghosted through a gap midway inside his half and into Tigers territory. He had Joe Rokocoko on his outside but when the ball was moved back inside it went to ground with the Leicester defence struggling to regroup.
Carter was at the centre of everything in the early exchanges and his kick to the opposite flank was shepherded out by Tait with Andreu in pursuit.
Eventually the early pressure told and Racing scored the opening try. Tigers ran out of bodies to defend the pick-and-go and scrum-half Chauveau dived over from close range. Carter missed the conversion but landed a long-range penalty to move Racing 8-0 ahead after 15 minutes.
Burns went off for blood treatment and was replaced by Sam Harrison. But Harrison could do nothing as Andreu swooped on a loose pass to out-run the Tigers defence and score under the posts. Carter’s conversion extended Racing’s lead to 15-0.
Tigers were unable to get a foothold in the game. Instead, it needed Tait’s tackle to halt Grobler’s run 5m from the line. Carter’s crossfield kick beat Andreu into touch at the next phase.
Burns pumped a penalty up to the Racing 22, to give Tigers their first real period of pressure. They were awarded a penalty for a high tackle on Will Evans and Burns’s kick put them on the board seven minutes before the break.
Racing had the chance to respond when Adam Thompstone was caught under a high ball but Carter was off target with the penalty. However, Tait knocked on as he collected the ball to give Racing a 5m scrum.
And they made Tigers pay with a third try on the stroke of half-time. Grobler forced his way over from close range, despite the efforts of Dan Cole and Peter Betham. Carter’s conversion gave Racing a 22-3 lead at the break.
Ed Slater was replaced by Mike Fitzgerald at half-time.
Racing picked up where they left off in the second period, probing the Tigers defence with Carter at the heart of things.
Frustration got the better of Cole, who was pinged for a barge on Carter. The former All Black fly-half sent the penalty to the corner from where Racing had Tigers under huge pressure. Evans dragged down the drive on the line, which resulted in a penalty try and a yellow card for the Tigers back-rower.
Tigers got their lineout drive going at the other end. And just as they looked set to score Antonie Claassen pulled down the maul. He was shown a yellow card but this time there was no penalty try for the Tigers.
The lineout was the source for another attack moments later. This time Tigers did cross the line but Racing held up the ball. Tigers went again with another lineout. Racing went offside but Cole drove on and over the line but again Racing got bodies under the ball.
Luke Hamilton came on at the end of Wells’s sin-bin period and Harry Thacker replaced Tom Youngs.
The set-piece was a solid platform from which to attack for the Tigers, and they threatened again from a 5m scrum. But again they were unable to find a way through the Racing defence before Fitzgerald was pinged for holding on a yard short.
Despite all of their efforts, Tigers were unable to find a way through, Instead Racing finished the game with a flourish when Andreu finished smartly at the left corner after neat hands by Grobler and Albert VuliVuli.
