Leicester see off Carter’s Racing 92

Zebre bite shame

PARIS, Oct 24, (AFP): Leicester gained European Cup revenge for last season’s semifinal loss to Racing 92 by beating Dan Carter’s French stars 27-17 in their heavyweight Pool 1 clash on Sunday.

Both Leicester, the 2001 and 2002 champions, and Racing ran in two tries each with the Tigers bouncing back from their opening, shock loss to Glasgow.

All Blacks superstar Carter was playing for the first time since he and teammates Joe Rokocoko and Juan Imhoff were cleared in a doping probe.

But they were on the backfoot in the first half after Leicester flanker Brendan O’Connor scored an early try while Owen Williams kicked the remaining points for an 11-3 lead at the interval.

In Pool 2 Wasps scored a last-minute try to grab a 20-20 draw at Toulouse while Connacht crushed Zebre 52-7 in a game which saw Italian hooker Oliviero Fabiani red-carded for biting.

Two-time winners Wasps were trailing 20-13 in the dying moments in France before No8 Nathan Hughes scored his team’s second try.

Jimmy Gopperth then hit a nerveless conversion from out wide to keep the English side’s quarter-final hopes alive.

Tensions had boiled over on the stroke of half-time after the French side failed to convert a sustained period of pressure into a try.

Lock forward Yoann Maestri barged into Wasps fitness coach Dan Baugh as the two sides squared up on the sidelines.

Wasps then ramped up the pressure further by making Toulouse wait to start the second period, although they were soon left to regret it. Star fly-half Danny Cipriani tried to play his way out from his fivemetre line but only succeeded in fumbling

Carter

the ball into the grateful hands of replacement prop Census Johnston, who barrelled over for a Toulouse try.

Sebastian Bezy converted for a 13-6 lead. Wasps hit back when Christian Wade’s break allowed fellow winger Josh Barrett to score with Gopperth hitting the extras for 13-13.

Toulouse reclaimed the lead through star French centre Gael Fickou, who went over with Bezy again successful with the conversion.

In Italy, Zebre’s traumatic European campaign hit a new low when Fabiani was red-carded in the first half for sinking his teeth into the forearm of lock forward Quinn Roux at the foot of a ruck.

Having been crushed 82-14 at Wasps last week, they conceded eight tries to leaders Connacht, for whom winger Stacey Ili scored a hat-trick.