Racing 92 secured a critical 31-22 bonus point win over the DHL Stormers, leapfrogging the DHL Stormers and Sale Sharks into fourth place in Pool 4.
The Stormers started the match with a Jurie Matthee converted penalty after eight minutes of play.
The Stormers lost a vital own line-out from which Racing attacked. Brilliant interplay and handling by Racing eventually led to winger Vinaya Habosi scoring in the corner. Nolann le Garrec added the extra two points to put Racing 07-03 in the lead after fourteen minutes of play in the first half.
Five minutes later winger Max Spring collected his own grubber to score Racing's second try, extending their lead to 12-03.
The Stormers patiently built their defence and Andre-Hugo Venter scored the Stormers' first try from the back of a fifteen-man lineout-maul to cut Racing's lead to 12-10 following Jurie Matthee's conversion.
Racing took a quick line-out and sent wide to winger Vinaya Habosi who scored an easy third try. Nolann le Garrec converted to extend Racing's lead to 19-10, which was the halftime score.
Racing's strong running proved to be too much for the Stormers defence. Racing attacked from within their own half, and following great handling and interplay put winger Max Spring in space to score Racing's bonus-point try, to extend Racing's lead to 24-10 and twenty-four minutes to play in the second half.
However, the Stormers struck back almost immediately when Jurie Matthee released Herschel Jantjies into space to cut Racing's lead to 24-17 following Matthee's conversion.
The Stormers lost their umpteenth own lineout on Racings' tryline, however, a "silly" clearance by Racing led Herchell Jantjies to feed Marcel Theunissen who scored the Stormers' third try to reduce Racing's lead to just two points.
Racing set up camp in the Stormers' red zone and scored their fifth try when Boris Palu took a tap from a penalty to secure a well-deserved 31-22 win.
Scorers:
Racing 92: Tries: Vinaya Habosi (2), Max Spring (2). Conversion: Nolann le Garrec (3).
DHL Stormers: Tries: Andre-Hugo Venter, Herschel Jantjies, Marcel Theunissen, Boris Palu. Conversion: Jurie Matthee (2). Penalty: Jurie Matthee
Teams
Racing 92: 15 Tristan Tedder, 14 Vinaya Habosi, 13 Josua Tuisova, 12 Dan Lancaster, 11 Max Spring, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Nolann le Garrec, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Maxime Baudonne, 6 Ibrahim Diallo (c), 5 Romain Taofifenua, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Thomas Laclayat, 2 Feleti Kaitu’u, 1 Hassane Kolingar. Replacements: 16 Diego Escobar, 17 Guram Gogichashvili, 18 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 19 Boris Palu, 20 Jordan Joseph, 21 Cameron Woki, 22 Antoine Gibert, 23 Henry Chavancy
DHL Stormers: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Jonathan Roche, 11 Ben Loader, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Willie Engelbrecht, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Salmaan Moerat (c), 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Sti Sithole. Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 JD Schickerling, 20 Dave Ewers, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Jean-Luc du Plessis.
