Racing crush Saints for home quarter

Juan Imhoff scored twice as Racing-Métro cruised to a 32-8 bonus-point success over Northampton at Franklin's Gardens.

The win was enough to seal the top overall seed for Racing, who will host their first-ever European quarter-final after completing an unbeaten run through the pool stages.

Benjamin Lapeyre and Jamie Roberts scored their other tries, and Saints, despite a George North try, never really threatened.

Northampton are also in the quarter-finals, but will now face a tricky game on the road in the last eight.

Saints could have taken the lead early but Stephen Myler pushed his penalty attempt wide after Eddy Ben Arous was penalised at a scrum.

A second penalty at a scrum, this time against Luc Ducalcon, gave Saints a second chance to open the scoring, but rather than kick for goal, they went to the corner and Racing then stole the resulting lineout.

While Northampton were reluctant to take points, Racing had no such qualms, and took the lead after 15 minutes. It came from a dart by Maxime Machenaud, who was tackled by Dylan Hartley while the Saints hooker was on the ground, earning a yellow card for his troubles.

Racing had also turned things around in the scrum, with Ducalcon getting the better of Alex Corbisiero at the next set-piece, giving Machenaud a shot at three more points, which he gratefully accepted.

The game was being played at a high tempo, with Racing showing more ambition than usual, while Saints were also clearly trying to move the ball to tire their opponents.

Northampton responded with their first points of the afternoon when Lapeyre grabbed a ball at a breakdown after the ruck had already been formed, giving Myler an easy shot at goal, and on this occasion he made no mistake.

When Hartley returned Saints almost had the first try, with North's little grubber looking really threatening but Luther Burrell knocked on with the line at his mercy.

Racing hit straight back and had a period of possession on the Saints line, but the home side defended well and eventually earned a penalty to clear the danger when the visitors were adjudged to have gone off their feet.

Saints needed to show their defensive ability after Racing set up a rolling maul, and crucially they held the visitors at bay, with Calum Clark producing a big tackle on Dimitri Szarzewski to take the momentum out of the French attack.

Northampton were under pressure but seemed to have weathered the storm. However on the stroke of half-time Racing finally went over, deservedly scoring the first try.

It was reward for their ambition. They had a lineout on halfway with time up, but rather than kick the ball out, they set up a maul and started to make ground. After the forwards had pushed Saints back, the ball was spread to the left, and Lapeyre beat a couple of men to create some space. Francois van der Merwe then beat one man on the touchline before feeding Imhoff inside.

Machenaud missed a kickable conversion, but the visitors led 11-3 at the break.

Northampton needed a quick start to the second half and they almost got it when Ken Pisi went straight through the Racing defence into the 22. The ball was recycled and Saints looked in great position. Racing defended well though and Szarzewski's big tackle caused George Pisi to lose the ball in contact. Henry Chavancy reacted quickest, hacking forward, and Imhoff then showed his searing pace to comfortably get away from Myler, collect and go under the posts.

Machenaud converted, and he was on target again two minutes later as Racing ran in their third try of the afternoon. It came when Burrell had the ball stripped by Lapeyre, and the full-back then ran round the edge before spotting a gap and sprinting through, going for an extravagant swallow dive as Racing took a 25-3 lead.

Northampton reacted immediately, going to their rolling maul to set up their first try. While Racing were able to stop the initial drive, they left too much space on the blindside, and Lee Dickson spotted it, releasing George North for the easy score. Myler was off-target with his conversion however.

Imhoff almost had his hat-trick a minute later when he produced a stunning sidestep to leave Burrell trailing before chipping over the top. The bounce was unkind though with no Saints players covering, and he was forced to kick through rather than run it in.

That likely would have ended the game as a contest, but Saints survived, and their job got easier when Lapeyre was sent to the sin-bin for an intentional knock-on as Saints again tried to spread the ball to North on the left.

The comeback looked on, but Racing hit straight back, and despite being a man down, they ran in their fourth try of the afternoon to seal the bonus point. Roberts finished it off, having already got Racing into position with a sensational pick-up in midfield.

That led to a penalty which Racing put into the corner and after a maul, they spread the ball to Roberts, and the centre showed his power to force the ball down. With Machenaud off, Benjamin Dambielle took over the kicking duties, and converted to make it 32-8.

The game was all but over, and the final 20 minutes saw Saints throw everything at Racing but struggle to find any way through.

It was a fantastic display from Racing, comfortably the best they've produced in Europe, as they dominated from start to finish. They showed greater urgency than in previous seasons, and on this form, will be a formidable opponent for anyone in the knock-out stages.

For Saints, it was a real off-day, and as was the case in Paris earlier this season, showed some of their limitations when they don't win the physical battle. They will now have to travel in the last eight and it makes any progress a lot more difficult.

The scorers

For Northampton:
Try: North
Pen: Myler
Yellow Card: Hartley

For Racing-Métro:
Tries: Imhoff 2, Lapeyre, Roberts
Cons: Machenaud 2, Dambielle
Pens: Machenaud 2
Yellow Card: Lapeyre

The teams:

Northampton Saints: 15 James Wilson, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 George North, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Samu Manoa, 7 Calum Clark, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Christian Day, 4 Sam Dickinson, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Alex Corbisiero
Replacements: 16 Mikey Haywood, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Phil Dowson, 20 Teimana Harrison, 21 Kahn Fotuali'i, 22 Tom Stephenson, 23 Jamie Elliott.

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

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Gwyn Morris (Wales), Jon Mason (Wales)