Racing 92 are my Gallic Barbarians
Brendan Gallagher traces the romantic history of the famous French side which play with panache
THERE was a moment earlier this season when Racing 92 showed just how serious they are about winning this year’s European Champions Cup. They had dug in tenaciously at Thomond Park without much luck before, in the 70th minute, Andrew Conway darted over for his side’s second try as Munster extended their lead to 14-0.
Ten minutes is a long time to keep going at Thomond against the home side with their tails up and I fully expected at least one more try, perhaps even a bonus point win.
At which point Racing flipped everything round and did ‘a Munster’ themselves. Racing went doggedly in search of a losing bonus point, the diehard trait that has underpinned all the great European teams in the tournament’s history. Always look to get something out of every game even in defeat.
Racing hit Munster with everything they had, the remarkable Leone Nakarawa scored a converted try and they could even have forced the draw. Ultimately they left with an invaluable losing bonus point and the respect of their opponents.
It was hard-nosed European Cup rugby and Racing have carried that approach all the way to today’s semifinal against the same opponents in Bordeaux. Ever since that afternoon at Thomond I’ve had them down as finalist alongside Leinster and I’m not going to switch horses now
But here’s the thing. For 100 years or more that ruthless ‘professional’ bloody-minded approach was the antithesis of how Racing played the game and lived their lives. For decades Les Racingmen were dandies, jovial men about town, super talented individuals but men with considerable lives outside of rugby. They were a band of brothers that lived in fear of ever being accused of ‘wanting it’ too much.
That doesn’t mean to say they weren’t periodically brilliant but things like work rate, training and consistency were anathema to them. Casual, effortless, individual brilliance and panache were all important. Gallic Barbarians.
That approach is deep-seated and has its roots in the club’s origins as the rugby section of a prestigious, elite, multi-sports club. The Racing Club de France, quickly shortened to Racing Club, was established in 1882 and catered for 17 sports and was the gathering point of all sports-minded Parisians or those passing through the capital.
In 1892 the club won the first French club championship final, beating Stade Francais 4-3 in a game refereed by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics. Racing fielded no fewer than four members of the French aristocracy in their team, if not quite the idle rich at play they certainly represented the creme de la crème letting off steam.
Racing, unsurprisingly, were an early rugby power in the land, winning the Bouclier de Brennus again in 1900 and 1902 and losing two more finals before World War 1. After the War, though, they struggled, first through the heavy loss of life among playing members and second due to their uncompromising amateur approach to the game which clashed with the rampant professionalism and skulduggery that was entering French club rugby some 60 years before the Union sanctioned pay for play.
Although still competing against the ruthless shamateurs from the south west, Racing refused to lower their standards and in 1931, they established their own invitation Cup competition – the Challenge Yves du Manoir – among teams they felt still upheld the best traditions of the game.
They named it Challenge Yves du Manoir after the club’s pin-up France fly-half and general all-round sporting genius who was killed in a training flight with the French Airforce in 1928. The competition was quite a feature of the French scene – a sort of FA Cup – for four or five decades before disappearing, although it has recently been revived as an Under 15 competition
Racing refused to soil their romantic approach to rugby even it meant they didn’t win another French Championship until 1959 and it lead to some pretty dismal years in the 1960s and 70s before the club miraculously regenerated in the 1980s.
Their solution was to make their amateurism into a virtue and they started attracting some really exceptional players and big characters such as Denis Charvet, Franck Mesnel, Jean Baptiste Lafond and Eric Bonneval. The four musketeers.
In a wonderfully extrovert way they attempted to emphasise the fun element of rugby on and off the field, which L’Equipe termed Le Show Bizz rugby. Against Bayonne one time all the team wore Basque berets in honour of their opponents while another time they dressed up as pelota players when they tackled Biarritz.
Sometimes they would wear long white trousers in the style of French players at the turn of the century while they famously turned up to the 1987 French Championship final all wearing pink bowties. They lost that match but again sported the bow ties in the 1990 final when they also opted to have champagne served on the
“Racing were a band of brothers that lived in fear of being accused of ‘wanting it’ too much”
pitch by a waiter at half-time.
Such flippancy and style struck a chord with the French public and beyond and led directly to Mesnel and Eric Blanc starting the Eden Park clothing range which originally concentrated on rugby-related kit before venturing into general retailing. Today they boast nearly 500 stores worldwide.
If all this seemed to be harking back to better, halcyon, days and that impression was boosted by the club continuing to play at the often crumbling Stade Yves du Manoir which began as the main venue for the 1924 Olympics, immortalised for Brits at least by the Chariots of Fire victories of Harold Abrahams in the 100m and Eric Liddell in the 400m.
It was also the venue of the 1924 Olympic rugby final won by the USA and the home venue for France until 1972 but by 1981 when Chariots of Fire was filmed, it had fallen into such a shambling state that all the action was filmed at the Hungária Körúti Stadion in Budapest and the Oval Sports Centre, Bebington.
Come the formal adoption of professionalism in 1995 Racing seemed singularly ill-suited to the brave new world and for a while they struggled badly, slipping down to Pro D 2. By the noughties they finally became separated from the Racing Club and merged with the Metro club, hence between 2001 and 2015 they were Racing Metro 92, the 92 referring to the Hauts de Sienne Department of Paris which was their base.
Racing missed out on promotion to Toulon in 2008 but the following year Racing stormed to the title, beating Mont de Marsan in the play-offs and, with the financial backing of billionaire property developer Jacky Lorenzetti immediately made a big impression in the T14 finishing runners up in their debut year.
Life became a little tougher after that, the T14 has been full of cash rich, star studded, teams and Lorenzetti also made it clear that although he was willing to provide the start-up money he wasn’t prepared to simply bankroll the club indefinitely. Long term it would have to find a self-funding financial model.
This involved Lorenzetti moving the club to a new 32,000 indoor stadium, the U Arena in Nanterre, with its 4G pitch.
In 2016 they took their first French championship in 26 years and with a trademark flash of flamboyance after Maxime Machenaud got sent off in the 19th minute. Pumas wing Juan Imhoff moved to nine and produced a remarkably versatile display as 14 man Racing claimed a famous 29-21 win over Toulon in front of nearly 100,000 fans at the Nou Camp in Barcelona.
The arrival of Dan Carter after the 2015 World Cup signalled their ambition. Carter contributed well in that first season but gradually the body began to fail him and this season he has really struggled to get on the pitch. It will be interesting to see whether he stays on the bench against Munster.
Two players who epitomise Racing’s current mindset are skipper Machenaud and Fijian lock Nakarawa. The fiery Machenaud is as good and influential a club performer as there is in Europe and his goalkicking a top class.
Nakarawa is the trump card they can play in moments of need.
The lanky Fijian is Racing in excelsis with an extraordinary range of skills. He’s no amateur, of course, but one of the highest paid rugby stars on the planet – but he plays as if he hasn’t a care in the world. If he fires in Bordeaux today Racing are probably favourites to win, if Munster can contain him the odds swing back in their direction.