RACING METRO’S FRONT row stole some of the limelight away from Dan Carter today as all three starting members got on the score-sheet in the 34 – 10 win over Glasgow Warriors.
Carter kicked two penalties and converted those three tries to leave his club 27 – 3 ahead when he departed the scene before the hour.
However, it took the Parisans until the 81st minute to build from that position to score the fourth try that brought the added insurance of a bonus point to maximise their Pool 3 lead over Northampton.
As it stands, Ronan O’Gara and Racing sit proudly atop Pool 3 and are on course for a home quarter-final with Scarlets and Glasgow still to be met in weeks five and six.
Carter put in a smooth performance throughout at Yves du Manoir this afternoon. The All Black legend kicked his side level after 24 minutes to cancel out Finn Russell’s opener. And when Racing began to batter the try-line, his subtle reverse pass helped open the door for tighthead Ben Tameifuna to bash through.
Carter extended the lead to 13 – 3 before half-time, but the early part of the second half was all about the pack – after a bit of offload magic from Juan Imhoff.
Dimitri Szarzewsk clung to the back of a rampant maul to underline Racing’s dominance after 43 minutes. And seven minutes later Eddy Ben Arous made it a hat-trick of front row tries.
Carter walked off the field and for 20 minutes the spark was lost for the hosts. Instead the Warriors bounced back and scraped a try of their own as Leone Nakarawa caught the line-out napping.
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In attack however, Racing’s set-piece was well and truly switched on. And when the Ciel et Bleu were handed a chance to catch and drive from inside the 22 late on, they poured 14 men in to the shove and came up with a score from Puma lock Manuel Carizza,
