Racing's dominant scrum that sets up a matching winning penalty that Machenaud misses

Racing's dominant scrum that sets up a matching winning penalty that Machenaud misses

Having just levelled the scores through a Maxime Machenaud penalty in the 76th-minute Racing looked to be well on their way to seal a come from behind victory over Clermont.

Juan Imhoff sliced through the Clermont defence and raced into the 22 from the kick off before Cedate Gomes-Sa knocked the ball on to concede the penalty. It was Clermont's turn to try seal the victory with long-range try from their own 22, something they are more than capable of doing.

Clermont got the better of Racing's scrum for most of the game with Rabah Slamani the main reason behind the destruction of the Racing pack, but the experienced tighthead had already been substituted. With the game in the balance, Racing brought their starting props Guram Gorgichashvili and Ben Tameifuna back on as a final roll of the dice to win the game, a tactic that they are entitled to do having not used their allotted substitutes under the Top 14 rules in place this season. 

The Racing scrum dominated the Clermont pack and won the penalty, on Clermont's feed, with a massive shove setting Machenaud up for the match-winning penalty.

However, the usually reliable goal kicker missed a relatively easy kick - by his high standards - and the game ended all square. 


The result, in the end, is probably a fair one with Clermont dominating the opening stages before imploding in the latter. Camille Lopez's exit from the clash really hurt the home side while Racing did well to come from behind but didn't look like the better side on the day. Full time: Clermont 31-31 Racing 92.


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