Racing Metro clinched a dogged 15-3 win over Edinburgh on Friday to keep their European Cup quarter-final hopes alive as last season’s semi-finalists slumped to a fourth successive defeat.
In a battle of the boot at Murrayfield, Olly Barkley and Gaeton Germain kicked penalties inside the first seven minutes, with Piers Francis cutting the French side’s lead after 27 minutes.
However, the former Waikato Chiefs fly-half was guilty of five misses out of six attempts on a rain-swept night while Germain was successful with three second-half penalties.
Photo: AFP
The win took Racing to the top of Pool 1 ahead of today’s match between Saracens and Munster.
Meanwhile, torrential rain reduced the Stade Aguilera pitch in Biarritz to swimming pool conditions as the French side set about avenging their shock 22-14 defeat to Connacht in Ireland last weekend.
Dmitri Yachvili kicked a third-minute penalty before his team had a try ruled out when Takudzwa Ngwenya aquaplaned into touch before he was able to ground the ball.
However, Biarritz grabbed a deserved lead on the half hour when Iain Balshaw darted between a gap left by Connacht fly-half Dan Parks to score, with Yachvili succeeding with a tricky conversion from the touchline for a 10-0 lead at the interval.
Fijian replacement Seremaia Burotu grabbed a last-minute try, converted by Yachvili, to give Biarritz a 17-0 victory.
Biarritz went into the game with suspended coaches Serge Milhas and Jack Isaac away from their posts until Jan. 6.
The pair were replaced in the interim by two emblematic figures at the club, manager Laurent Rodriguez — who was joint coach when Biarritz won the 2002 French title — and youth academy director Mathieu Rourre.
“They were appalling conditions, but I am happy for the club and the spirit,” Rourre said.
“We wanted to return to simple things and values and we showed that,” he said.
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Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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