Imhoff double sees Racing past Leicester
Two tries from Argentina wing Juan Imhoff moved French side Racing 92 a step closer to the last eight of the European Champions Cup with a hard-fought 34-11 win over Leicester at Welford Road on Sunday. A week after they beat Tigers 36-26 indoors in Paris, Racing showed they could perform in the cold outdoors on grass with four tries in a bonus-point win that leaves them top of Pool 4 with four wins from four, five points ahead of Ulster. It was an eighth successive defeat for Leicester in all competitions and means they cannot win the group and are effectively out of contention for the last eight. Man of the match Antonie Classen said he was impressed by his side's effort late on. "It was tough, we knew we had to start well especially the first 20 minutes. We came back at the end to score the bonus point try so we're happy with that," he told broadcaster BT Sport. "It's important to send out a message because it's such a tough competition," the France forward added. Elsewhere Edinburgh took a firm, if surprising, grip on the top of Pool 5, beating Newcastle 21-8 with a clinical performance in north east England. The Scottish side have lost only once in the competition this season and take a closer step to a first Champions Cup quarter-final berth since 2012. The other game in the group saw three-time former champions Toulon lose heavily 34-13 at Montpellier as South Africa scrum-half Ruan Pienaar scored 26 points for the hosts. At Welford Road, Leicester fly-half George Ford opened the scoring with a penalty after just six minutes but the home side were quickly on the back foot as Racing scrum-half Teddy Iribarren wriggled over from close range. Ireland wing Simon Zebo, playing at full-back for Racing, then broke through the midfield and created an overlap for Imhoff who skated over for his first try. Ford and Finn Russell exchanged penalties but midway through the half Racing scored their third try. This time a sharp break from Russell created the space for Bernard Le Roux to break for the line. The flanker was tackled just short but popped the ball up for France wing Virimi Vakatawa. Trailing 24-6, the Tigers began to show their claws. Manu Tuilagi burst past the Racing defence and threaded the ball to Adam Thompstone. Zebo came across with the tackle but George Worth scooped up to dive over. Either side of half-time, Leicester spurned two penalties going for the corner on both occasions and coming back with nothing. Russell converted another penalty to stretch the lead for Racing who welcomed back Maxime Machenaud in the second half, the France scrum-half making his first appearance since suffering a knee injury against Munster in April. In the last minute Imhoff went through for his second try, securing the all-important bonus point for Racing.
