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Castres hold off Racing to book Top 14 final berth
By Peter Hanson
Castres were rewarded for a fine backs-against-the-wall showing amid late pressure to upset Racing 92 19-14 and book a Top 14 final against Montpellier.
A star-studded Racing side who finished second in the regular season and lost the European Champions Cup final to Leinster were clear favourites in the semi-final contest at Groupama Stadium.
But Castres, champions in 2013, benefitted from Racing's ill-discipline before holding out with 14 men for most of the closing stages following Julien Dumora's sin-binning.
Racing had a try ruled out in each half but, despite outscoring the underdogs two tries to one, were unable to find the killer blow.
Castres struck first when Maama Vaipulu crashed over from a maul. Benjamin Urdapilleta kicked the extras and then added a three-pointer to stretch the early lead to 10.
Louis Dupichot saw a try chalked off for a Racing infringement in the build-up, but the Paris side did respond when Juan Imhoff showed electric pace from Remi Tales' offload to dot down.
Dupichot then broke the lines to score Racing's second, only for ill-discipline to creep into their game, allowing Urdapilleta to kick two penalties either side of a yellow card for Ben Tameifuna, moving Castres back in front.
Racing could have been punished more for that sin-binning, but Urdapilleta and Rory Kockott each missed from the tee.
Racing scrum-half Teddy Iribaren thought he had punished those missed kicks when he broke following a line-out to score under the posts, only for the play to be called back for a forward pass.
Urdapilleta then gave Castres some breathing space by once again splitting the posts, although Dumora's yellow for a high tackle on Imhoff with 14 minutes remaining saw their numbers depleted with the lead at just five.
Racing peppered the line and had a series of close-range scrums in a dramatic finish, but Castres held firm for a fine win.
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Has there ever been a Red and Black you don't rate GP over the years? However to be fair most of your favs have had the goods.
Go to commentsI'm not very hopeful of a better change to the sport. Putting an Aussie in charge after they failed for two decades is just disgusting. What else will be brought in to weaken the game? What new rule changes will be made? How will the game be grown?
Nothing of value in this letter. There is no definitive drive towards something better. Just more of the same as usual. The most successful WC team is getting snubbed again and again for WC's hosting rights. What will make other competitions any different?
My beloved rugby is already a global sport. Why is there no SH team chosen between the Boks, AB's, Wallabies and Fiji? Like a B&I Lions team to tour Europe and America? A team that could face not only countries but also the B&I Lions? Wouldn't that make for a great spectacle that will also bring lots of eyeballs to the sport?
Instead with an Aussie in charge, rugby will become more like rugby league. Rugby will most likely become less global if we look at what have become of rugby in Australia. He can't save rugby in Australia, how will he improve the global footprint of rugby world wide?
I hope to be proven wrong and that he will raise up the sport to new heights, but I am very much in doubt. It's like hiring a gardener to a CEO position in a global company expecting great results. It just won't happen. Call me negative or call me whatever you'd like, Robinson is the wrong man for the job.
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