Murphy still finds a bonus in defeat
GEORDAN MURPHY, Leicester’s interim head coach, saw his side get something out of this daunting Champions Cup clash but admitted he was still not happy.
Tigers sneaked out of Paris with a bonus point for scoring four tries and did it with Manu Tuilagi and Ellis Genge in the sin-bin at different times.
Despite their yellow cards, the duo were Leicester’s most prominent players, with displays that will give England head coach Eddie Jones encouragement ahead of the Six Nations.
Prop Genge was at his stroppy best, carrying hard, and centre Tuilagi looked sharp when he was on the front foot.
And after the doom and gloom of recent weeks Leicester will be breathing a massive sigh of relief the wheels are not falling off completely. Murphy said: “We had 20 minutes with 14 players and that hurts you. But I don’t think you can question the endeavour and the passion of the blokes in the shirt.
“It was an emotional roller coaster. We wanted to play fast and on that surface we thought we’d have some opportunities to get some points on the board.
“We conceded too easily in the first half and gave ourselves a mountain to climb, but we asked the boys to work incredibly hard for each other, to stick at it and keep going. I was proud of the boys to still be in it at the end.
“Some really big decisions went against us and it didn’t faze them. I’m never going to be happy with a loss but I’m pleased that a lot of things we talked about, we did.
“And I’m pleased that when a lot of things went against us, we stuck at it and kept playing for each other.”
Leicester arrived at Racing’s futuristic stadium, which has a huge video screen at one end and no spectators, with stories swirling around about the identity of their new boss.
Harlequins head of rugby, and a former Leicester player, Paul Gustard was the latest name put in the frame, although Tigers chief executive Simon Cohen knocked that one back. However, Murphy is looking to bring in some new faces.
He said: “The board have said they will give us whatever support we need. We want to have a look at who we can get in but I am happy with my coaching team.
“If we can bring quality people in we will. We are always looking at improving our environment in every aspect. Hopefully the tide will turn.”
They also came to Paris on the back of six straight losses in all competitions and as a pale shadow of the Martin Johnson-inspired team that won this tournament in 2001 and 2002. But with the odds against them they gave it a crack and although Racing have a grip on Pool Four, Tigers gave themselves something to play for when they face the Parisians at home on Sunday.
Leicester’s travelling fans were fearing the worst when Racing sprinted to a 12-0 lead with Tuilagi in the bin for a deliberate knock-on.
But Jonah Holmes’ try when he was put away by scrum-half Ben White on 16 minutes stemmed the bleeding. Yet Racing, with secondrow Leone Nakarawa outstanding, never lost their lead.
The hosts, who had Scotland’s Finn Russell pulling the strings from fly-half, had their bonus point wrapped up by half-time thanks to tries from Virimi Vakatawa, Juan Imhoff, Simon Zebo and Baptiste Chouzenoux.
However, Tigers were not leaving empty-handed. No 8 Sione Kalamafoni went over on 37 minutes and when Tuilagi looped round Michael Fitzgerald it was 26-19 and game on.
Russell’s penalty and a try from Olivier Klemenczak nailed the result, but Leicester refused to throw in the towel.
Adam Thompstone grabbed the bonus point after an interception from George Ford, who cleverly took a quick lineout with the Racing defence missing and put his winger over for the consolation try.