The Albany Gazette - Leinster hammer Racing, Sharks edge Quins in Champions Cup

There was also an historic first in Durban where Sharks became the first South African franchise to take part in the new-format Champions Cup, edging English side Harlequins 39-31 in a pulsating match.

Racing, laced with international stars such as Scotland fly-half Finn Russell and France centre Gael Fickou, went into the tournament with high hopes of improving on last season when they lost to eventual champions La Rochelle in the semi-finals.

But, transported from their usual home arena in Paris because of a clash of dates, they were helpless as the Irish marauders, who lost to La Rochelle in the final last May, overpowered them from the start.

Prop Andrew Porter crashed over in the fourth minute and further tries from Dan Sheehan and Garry Ringrose, while Racing were down to 14 men after hooker Camille Chat was shown a yellow card, gave Leinster a 21-3 lead at the break.

Another yellow card saw the back of Racing scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec in the 62nd minute which opened the door for Josh van der Flier and Ed Byrne to add further tries.

Former England wing Christian Wade pulled a try back for Racing but World Player of the Year van der Flier sealed the thrashing with a sixth try in the final minute.

In Durban, Harlequins outscored Sharks five tries to four but still ended up on the losing side.

Josh Bassett put the Premiership side ahead in the seventh minute but Bongi Mbonambi struck back and two tries from Springbok wing Makazole Mapimpi took Sharks into a 22-7 lead.

Will Evans rumbled over for Quins to make it an 8-point game at half-time.

Werner Kok chased his own kick through the Harlequins back line, outpacing the opposition to touch down in the corner and and Curwin Bosch added a penalty to make it 32-14 and apparently game over.

Quins rallied gamely, however. Andre Esterhuizen, who played for the Sharks until moving to London in 2020, dotted down twice and Bassett added his second to reduce the deficit to a single point with two minutes remaining.

It was Sharks, though, who closed the deal with Boeta Chamberlain completing a fine move down the right.

Two other South African teams, featuring in a new format of what used to be the continental championship for Europe, take the field later on Saturday with Bulls hosting Lyon in Pretoria and Cape Town-based Stormers travelling to Clermont.

(A.Lehmann--BBZ)