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Cards and scraps a plenty as Racing 92 beat local rivals Stade
By PA
Racing 92 set up a Champions Cup quarter-final against Sale as they came from behind to beat Stade Francais 33-22 on Sunday.
The victory gave the hosts a 55-31 aggregate win, but they had to come from behind to make sure of it, with the visitors 22-13 up at half-time to close the deficit to three after Racing’s 22-9 triumph in last week’s first leg.
Stade Francais had come out determined to undo last week’s damage, scoring early tries through Telusa Veainu and Adrien Lapegue to take a 15-3 lead, but a 35th-minute red card for Sefa Naivalu changed the equation.
Wenceslas Lauret pulled one back for Racing before Lapegue responded, but a second-half brace from Teddy Thomas, and a second for Lauret, sealed the win.
It was a red-blooded contest between the two Parsian side, with more than its fair share of off-the-ball incidents. One scrap in the 52nd minute after a challenge after the whistle saw the majority of players from either side bail into an all-in-tussle.
additional reporting PA
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Even with absences we still had the cattle to make the playoffs. As it was, we nearly stumbled our way into the top 8. Which shows just how easy it was to get there. And still we failed. As for Razor, there are many instances of him patching up the Crusaders roster. Numerous. Several players I'd never heard of. Also, using AB legend John Afoa was a classic.
But, some of the games we were losing were from schoolboy errors, or downright confusion. Either the players were really dumb (they weren’t) or they were poorly coached. Given the repetitive nature of errors, brain fades, poor decision making, & loose structures, this all lands with the coaching group.
With only six playoff spots now in SR, & Aussie franchises now consolidated to four, 2025 looks like a tight one. I'm picking we'll have to tough it out under Penney & hope for the best.
Go to commentsAgree we need a 10, 12, 13 refresh. ASAP. Well, next season now lol. Reiko should be put back on the wing. He'll be an absolute menace there. Imagine 11 Reiko 14 Clarke 15 Jordan as the backfield unit.
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