Champions Cup result: Stormers dumped out of competition by Racing 92

The fighting Stormers were heartbreakingly dumped out of the Champions Cup by French giants Racing 92, after the hosts clinched an entertaining 31-22 win in their final pool match at the Paris La Defense Arena in Paris on Saturday night.

The Stormers rested a few star players for the match, with Manie Libbok, Deon Fourie and Warrick Gelant left out, with an eye on their huge United Rugby Championship (URC) match against Leinster in Dublin next weekend, and missing that star power may have cost them in the end.

With Harlequins picking up a vital win over Glasgow Warriors, it secured their place in the next round on nine points, while Racing moved up into fourth place, also on nine points, meaning the Stormers in fifth place are now out of the tournament.

They may also miss out on the second tier Challenge Cup competition, if Sale Sharks manage to get just one point in their home game against Toulon on Sunday, which will drop the Stormers to the bottom of the table and completely out of the EPCR.

Good start

In the match it was the Stormers that started well, but they were kept out by some strong Racing defence, which led to them slotting a penalty through flyhalf Jurie Mathee to get them on the board in the seventh minute.

But the hosts hit back with a quickfire double score as a good change of play on attack in the Stormers 22m led to left wing Vinaya Habosi going over in the corner, followed by a lovely pass and a chip ahead from right wing Max Spring allowing him to pick up the ball and score.

French scrumhalf Nolan Le Garrec, who put in a superb man-of-the-match effort, slotted one of the conversions, giving his side a 12-3 lead after 17 minutes.

The Stormers bounced back from that with their first try of the game five minutes later, as they setup a lineout in the Racing 22m, were stopped short, with replacement hooker Andre-Hugo Venter breaking off and powering over, converted by Mathee to make it 12-10.

Racing however took a good lead into halftime after the Stormers were caught napping by a quickly taken lineout, with the ball slung out wide to Habosi to ghost in untouched, with Le Garrec’s extras putting them 19-10 ahead.

Run away

The hosts looked like they might run away with the game in the second half, when in the 55^th minute a top cross kick out to Spring saw him into the corner for his second score to push them up by 14 points.

But the Stormers had other ideas as they began their counter-attack three minutes later as Mathee hit a gap and put away replacement scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies for the converted score.

Jantjies was again heavily involved in the next try in the 64^th minute, sniping down the blindside and offloading to flank Marcel Theunissen to beat a defender and sprint away to score, but Mathee pushed the touchline conversion attempt wide to leave them just behind at 24-22.

Being so close saw the Stormers take a gamble in the 69^th minute when they received a penalty near the halfway and right hand touchline, as Mathee lined up the extremely tough chance, and although it seemed to have the legs, was hooked wide.

This allowed the hosts to shut the door in the 76^th minute, after turning down a couple of easy shots at goal, with replacement forward Boris Palu crashing over, converted by Le Garrec to put them out of touch.

Scorers

Racing 92: Tries – Vinaya Habosi (2), Max Spring (2), Boris Palu; Conversions – Nolann Le Garrec (3)

Stormers: Tries – Andre-Hugo Venter, Herschel Jantjies, Marcel Theunissen; Conversions – Jurie Mathee (2); Penalty – Mathee