Racing run riot as ace Russell pulls the strings

ULSTER came crashing back to earth with a bang as they were thrashed by Racing 92 in Paris.

Despite taking an early 12-3 lead the Northern Irishmen succumbed to the power of their Parisian hosts who took control of Pool 4.

“I’m really disappointed. |We showed a glimmer of what we’re capable of and then we got a lesson in accuracy,” said Ulster head coach Dan McFarland.

“Throughout the game we demonstrated we could cause them trouble but Racing were excellent and we didn’t turn enough of our opportunities into points.”

Tries from Teddy Iribaren, Wenceslas Lauret, Juan Imhoff, Teddy Thomas and Simon Zebo plus 17 points from the boot of Finn Russell were enough to secure victory.

Ulster scored two tries of their own through David Shanahan and Jacob Stockdale. In fact they came out of the blocks firing and made the perfect start when Shanahan finished a scintillating move launched from their own 22 by fullback Michael Lowry.

Ulster were then reduced to 14 men when No.8 Nick Timoney received a yellow card for lifting Fabien Sanconnie above the horizontal but it didn’t stop them from extending their lead with Stockdale crossing at the left hand corner following sustained pressure in the Racing 22.

But with Ulster’s scrum reeling, Antonie Claassen powered forward before drawing his man to put Iribaren over.

Racing now had the bit between their teeth with Argentinian Test winger Juan Imhoff slicing open the Ulster defence with a break upfield. He was eventually brought down just short of the 22 but the ball was recycled before Lauret powered over for their second try.

Russell put his side further ahead with a penalty from 40m to give the Parisians a 20-12 lead at the interval.

Racing continued where they left off with Imhoff running a brilliant support line to score after a break by Olivier Klemenczak.

And last season’s finalists secured the try bonus after a moment of brilliance from Scotland star Russell. The outsidehalf chipped the ball over the Ulster defence from within his own 22 before regathering and putting Thomas clear to sprint 50m for the try.

Simon Zebo rubbed salt into Ulster’s wounds with their fifth try after slick backline handling.