Racing put pressure on leaders Montpellier as Toulon are toppled
Montpellier's advantage at the Top 14 summit was cut to four points as Racing 92 fought back to win 28-22 at home to Stade Francais on Saturday.
The leaders travel to fourth-placed Toulouse on Sunday and they will have been relieved to see Toulon, in third, claim only one point as they subsided to a shock 29-26 defeat at struggling Oyonnax.
Racing benefited from Stade's Zurab Zhvania picking up a yellow card inside 11 minutes for a dangerous tackle on Dan Carter, and they soon capitalised as Boris Palu went over.
Carter converted but Racing found themselves 14-7 down at the break as Stade hit back through Jimmy Yobo and Marvin O'Connor.
The hosts came out firing after the interval, however, and were back in front by the hour mark courtesy of Teddy Thomas' brace - the second on the back of an excellent break from Virimi Vakatawa.
Marc Andreu's score 10 minutes from time effectively put the game beyond Stade, for whom Morne Steyn's penalty and Baptiste Lafond's interception try in the last minute set up the chance to secure a losing bonus point, only for Steyn to miss the extras.
A maximum return for Toulon would have seen them join Racing in closing to within four of Montpellier, but Fabien Galthie's men were put to the sword by the boot of Ben Botica.
The New Zealander kicked 19 points, including converting tries scored by Rory Grice and Steven Sykes - the latter going over with a minute to go to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat for Oyonnax, who remain in the bottom two but have now won four in a row.
Meanwhile, Clermont Auvergne thrashed Pau 38-14, La Rochelle edged out Lyon 19-15 and Bordeaux-Begles came away 15-10 winners from a trip to Agen.
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It might be legal but he’s sailing pretty close to the wind. Not a lot needs to go wrong for Finau to end up in the bin. Was it late? Not quite, but borderline. High? A couple of CM within the laws, no room for error with that one. Did he wrap the arms? There was a token effort to wrap one arm, the intent was clearly to hit with the shoulder. So yeah, it’s legal, just. But as we all know, a very slight change in the dynamics could easily have him seeing red. Hopefully not when it really matters.
Go to commentsYou forget this is Rassie Erasmus who is still holding the Springbok keys. Even with Felix Jones orchestrating a really tight RWC SF last year. It still wasn't enough to get England past their particular Springbok Monkey in world cups. The reason is FJ was going off of what they did in 2019 not necessarily adapting to current Springboks. So yes, Australia can get passed England because let's be honest, England have a one track strategy, Springboks do not. Even with rush defense I wouldn't be surprised if Rassie continually tweaks it. Also bear in mind Rassie is happy to sacrifice a few mid year and inter World Cup matches to pin point how opposition plays and how to again tweak strategies to get his Springboks in peak performance for the next World Cup. As much as most teams like to win games in front of them and try to win everything, Rassie always makes sure to learn and train for the greatest showdown International Rugby has to offer. Tbh, most people remember World Cup wins and ignore intermediate losses as a result but will remember also WC losses, Ireland, even if they won games in the interim. So even if games are won against the Springboks, it's likely Rassie is just getting a feel for how opposition is moving and adapt accordingly…in time. For Rassie, a loss is never a loss because he uses it as a chance to learn and improve. Sometimes during a game, again like the England match in last year's Semi Final.
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