Racing scrape past the Ospreys

Racing-Métro scraped past the Ospreys 18-14 in a poor game in Le Mans to end the Welsh side's quarter-final hopes.

Tries from Juan Imhoff and Teddy Thomas helped Racing to a 15-0 lead at half-time, but as they had last week, the French side couldn't keep it up in the second half, with Rhys Webb and Eli Walker crossing for the Ospreys.

The Welsh team couldn't finish the job though and Johan Goosen's late penalty sealed the win for Racing.

The game followed a similar pattern to the draw at the Liberty Stadium last weekend, with Racing dominant in the first half and taking advantage of their forward power to stretch into a big lead.

They opened the scoring through a Goosen penalty which had also seen Webb sent to the bin. The Ospreys scrum-half foolishly took out Imhoff when he'd kicked through and could have no complaints about the decision.

While Racing couldn't take advantage of the extra man, they did finally score on 26 minutes when Imhoff went over on the right. It came after the home forwards had hammered away at the Ospreys line, eventually freeing up the space for the Puma.

The first try had taken a long period of possession to set up, but the second three minutes later was opportunism epitomised.

A loose pass in midfield from the Ospreys was collected by Luke Charteris, and the giant second row spread the ball quickly out wide. Goosen then made 40 metres with the ball before drawing the final defender and sending Thomas over.

At 15-0 it looked all over, but Racing were desperately poor after the break, not helped by some chronic indiscipline.

It started with Antonie Claassen's sin-binning right after half-time for taking out Dan Biggar in the air.

No sooner had he returned than Maxime Machenaud was given a yellow card of his own for an intentional knock-on with the home side stretched.

The Ospreys made the most of the extra man with a try from Webb, Claassen the guilty party in leaving the gap for one of the scrum-half's trademark dummy and snipes.

Biggar converted and the Ospreys were back in a game that had appeared beyond them.

There followed a crazy period of play on the hour when the teams went from end-to-end for what seemed like an eternity, with Goosen eventually knocking on with the line at his mercy. That try likely would have sealed the contest, but instead, the Ospreys dominated the final quarter.

Against a side who seemed clueless under pressure, Ashley Beck's cross-kick sent Walker over and when Biggar converted there was just a point in it with ten minutes remaining.

It seemed inevitable that the Ospreys would complete the comeback, but instead Racing showed some nous and held on, clinching it with Goosen's late penalty.

Still, on this form Racing are certainly not contenders to win the competition despite their unbeaten start.

They currently sit second in Pool Five, and while a home game against Treviso should give them the chance to pick up five points, it's tough to see them picking up anything in Northampton on the final day.

The Ospreys meanwhile, sit on eight points, and with their current injury woes, their challenge is effectively over.

The scorers:

For Racing-Métro:
Tries: Imhoff, Thomas
Con: Goosen
Pens: Goosen 2
Yellow Cards: Claassen, Machenaud

For Ospreys:
Tries: Webb, Walker
Cons: Biggar 2
Yellow Card: Webb

The teams:

Racing Metro: 15 Brice Dulin; 14 Juan Imhoff, 13 Henry Chavancy, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Teddy Thomas; 10 Johannes Goosen, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Antonie Claassen 7 Bernard Le Roux, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Francois van der Merwe, 4 Juandre Kruger, 3 Luc Ducalcon, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski (c), 1 Julien Brugnaut.
Replacements: 16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Eddy Ben Arous, 18 Brian Mujati, 19 Luke Charteris, 20 Camille Gerondeau, 21 Mike Phillips, 22 Yoan Audrin, 23 Benjamin Dambielle

Ospreys: 15 Daniel Evans; 14 Hanno Dirksen, 13 Ashley Beck, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Eli Walker; 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Tyler Ardron 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 James King, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones (c), 4 Rynier Bernardo, 3 Dmitri Arhip, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Marc Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Dan Suter, 19 Olly Cracknell, 20 Sam Lewis, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Sam Davies , 23 Andrew Bishop

Venue: MM Arena, Le Mans
Referee: Greg Garner (England)