Leinster hammer Racing 92 to kick off Champions Cup campaign in style

Clinical Leinster kicked off their bid for a fifth Champions Cup title with a precise and calculated six-try 42-10 deconstruction of Top 14 opponents Racing 92

Sat, 10 Dec, 2022 - 15:28

James Harrington

Racing 92 10 Leinster 42

Clinical Leinster kicked off their bid for a fifth Champions Cup title with a precise and calculated six-try 42-10 deconstruction of Top 14 opponents Racing 92.

Such was their dominance that the 32-point difference between the two sides wasn’t even flattering.

The French side - three-time losing finalists since 2016, including a 15-12 defeat against Saturday’s opponents in Bilbao in 2018 - have made no secret of their ambition to go deep into the knockout phase this year.

But they were taught a harsh opening day lesson in how to manage Champions Cup rugby by a Leinster side in no mood for playing games and fully prepared to capitalise on every error. They were handed enough opportunities, as careless Racing shipped penalty after penalty in the opening period.

The visitors’ attitude may be attributed to their difficult journey to Le Havre, with the Top 14 side’s usual venue, La Defense Arena, hosting a concert by French rapper Orelsan.

Their flight from Dublin on Friday was delayed by five hours, then they were diverted from the coastal Normandy town’s airport to Paris Beauvais, leaving them a two-hour trip to their hotel in a fleet of taxis - eventually arriving at their destination more than nine-hours behind schedule.

They missed the captain’s run at the stadium, and a media event in France. Their carefully planned preparations were in tatters.

Whatever the reason, Leinster were in a punishing frame of mind from the moment they stalked on to the Stade Oceane pitch.

In the four minutes between Finn Russell kicking off and Andrew Porter barrelling over for the game’s opening try, Racing did not get hands on the ball. But they did concede three penalties. The first two took Leinster from inside their own 22 to Racing’s; the third to 5m, as captain Garry Ringrose instructed Ross Byrne to go for touch rather than goal.

Racing are one of the Top 14’s most-feared lineout stealers - but that mattered not to Porter, who broke free of a maul and barrelled over.

Dan Sheehan added a second after 32 minutes, dancing beyond Russell’s desperate tackle attempt from Jamison Gibson Park’s perfectly judged long-lob pass.

And Ringrose finished off a smoking lineout strike move before half-time, while Racing were reduced to 14 with Camille Chat in the bin, after James Low broke Racing’s defence courtesy of Byrne’s delicate pass. His over-the-top offload left his captain with a short burst to the line.

The result may have been a foregone conclusion by halftime, but Leinster still had a bonus-point to aim for. Josh van der Flier duly obliged shortly after the hour for the first of his two tries of the match - reaching over to score after the ball was flicked in his direction from a tap-and-go penalty.

Replacement prop Ed Byrne, seven minutes after coming on, burrowed his way to the line under the posts with 10 minutes left to play to add a fifth.

Finn Russell put Christian Wade through to spare at least some of Racing’s blushes with 75 minutes on the clock before van der Flier underlined the four-time champions’ dominance with the final play of the game.

Scorers for Racing 92: Tries - Christian Wade. Cons - Finn Russell 1. Pens - Finn Russell 1.

Scorers for Leinster: Tries - Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Garry Ringrose, Josh van der Flier, Ed Byrne. Cons - Ross Byrne 4, Harry Byrne 2.

Racing 92: Max Spring (Antoine Gibert 79’); Christian Wade, Francis Saili (Olivier Klemenczak 63’), Gael Fickou (capt), Juan Imhoff; Finn Russell, Nolann Le Garrec; Eddy Ben Arous (Hassane Kolingar, 44’), Camille Chat (Janick Tarrit 54’), Cedate Gomes Sa (Trevor Nyakane 44’); Cameron Woki (Boris Palu 74’), Fabien Sanconnie (Anton Bresler 63’); Wenceslas Lauret (Baptiste Chouzenoux 41’), Ibrahim Diallo, Maxime Baudonne (Janick Tarrit 37’, Baudonne 41’).

Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Jimmy O'Brien, Garry Ringrose (capt), Charlie Ngatai (Jamie Osborne 72’), James Lowe; Ross Byrne (Harry Byrne 69’), Jamison Gibson-Park (Luke McGrath 63’); Andrew Porter (Ed Byrne 63’), Dan Sheehan (Rónan Kelleher 63’), Michael Ala'alatoa (Cian Healy 62’), James Ryan, Jason Jenkins (Ross Molony 54’), Ryan Baird (Jack Conan 63’), Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris.

Referee: Luke Pearce [RFU].