The crowd was present to fill the stands of the Paris La Défense Arena and push to the end. In front of their public, again at full gauge since the last match, the players of Racing 92 suffered in an unbreathable end to the match, Saturday, which finally turned to the advantage of the Ile-de-France residents (35-29) against the Section Paloise . This success of great importance allows the Racingmen to pick up 5th place in Toulouse (43 pts), after this late meeting of the 13th day of Top 14.
It was all about kicks. While Pau allowed themselves to score 5 tries on the Ile-de-France lawn, winning an offensive bonus point, Racing 92 got away with it thanks to the superb ratio of Maxime Machenaud, author of a 6/6 against to the poles. Antoine Gibert was responsible for finishing the job by scoring a final penalty nearly 50m from the Pau in-goal.
Machenaud perfect at the foot
After a controlled start to the match from Ciel et blanc, the waves at Pau broke, with in particular three tries scored in less than ten minutes (15th, 20th, 24th). Author of a test, Maxime Machenaud then took his responsibilities to return to the score thanks to his perfect success on foot, while Antoine Hastoy experienced an ordeal with a sad 2/6 in the exercise.
This fifth consecutive success, in all competitions, for Racing 92 allows them to score on equal points with Toulouse, fifth in the standings (43pts), before moving to the field of leader Bordeaux-Bègles. For his part, Pau is in tenth position (32 pts).
