The ground was little more than half-full for Dan Carter’s debut and the match was not all-ticket. Extra booth attendants were hired, but they had little custom to attend to. It was not the normal Messiah effect, but these are not normal times in the French capital. The presence of the World Cup winner coincided with Racing’s most impressive victory of the season.
The New Zealander has been having French lessons since his arrival in Paris, but as one of nine foreigners in the starting lineup, perhaps the French contingent in the squad should be sent to English classes. Communication was not an issue for Racing, although one of Carter’s early passes went to ground when he appeared to be surprised to see a prop, Eddy Ben Arous, standing at second receiver.
“I was nervous before the game and heavy-legged at the end of it not having played for six weeks, but my team-mates made it easy for me,” said Carter, who stayed on the field for 10 minutes after being earmarked for substitution with the bonus point banked. “I was just able to go out and play and I am delighted my first appearance saw the team go so well.”
It was up front where Racing looked to leave their mark. The tighthead prop Benjamin Tameifuna was, like Carter, imposing, but in a markedly different way; a forward so wide he blocked out the light for those trying to tackle him and he left a trail of defenders on his rampages. Northampton’s recovery after a poor start to the season was down to their staples of set pieces and gainline mastery, but here they spent most of the first half defending grimly as Tameifuna, Ben Arous, Dimitri Szarzewski and Chris Masoe kept pounding away, like huge waves reaching the coastline in a storm.
Northampton had done well to be holding Racing to 14-3 with four minutes of the opening period remaining. Carter had made two tackles and brought down Luther Burrell a few seconds late before receiving his first pass. His contribution was, as he had promised, understated, facilitating rather than dictating as he acclimatised. Northampton did single him out for some late attention but Carter, right knee heavily bandaged, was not ruffled on his way to gaining an understanding why England did not get very far in the World Cup.
It was another New Zealander, Joe Rokocoko, who made the early impact, drifting off his wing and offloading dextrously. It was his pass that led to the game’s opening try on 13 minutes, Henry Chavancy the beneficiary as he stood on the right wing. Northampton had their own veteran, Victor Matfield, making his first full appearance for the club, but it is not one the 38-year-old will look back on with anything approaching fondness.
Northampton’s late rally at the end of the opening half threatened to tilt the game. Racing’s second try, scored by Ben Arous after a series of drives, was answered by a JJ Hanrahan penalty and when two of the home side’s attacks ended in penalties for the Saints, Hanrahan’s break and offload to Teimana Harrison gave the visitors their best attacking position of the evening. When the ball came to Matfield going left in the Racing 22, his pass to George North was picked up by Brice Dulin, who held off Ben Foden and North on an 80-metre run. A chance to cut the deficit to four points transformed into an 18-point gap at the break.
There was no coming back for Northampton, who crashed to their first defeat in the tournament this season. Hanrahan and the industrious Harrison aside, the Saints did not leave a mark on the match. By the time Carter was replaced on 63 minutes, Racing had secured their try bonus point. When Burrell rushed out of the defensive line, Tameifuna drew what was left of the defence and freed Dulin with a deft pass out of the back of his left hand that was worthy of Carter.
The game then drifted, Juan Imhoff finishing the scoring with a flourish after some showboating from a team by now playing as French sides used to, with a swagger, although Northampton protested in vain to the referee George Clancy about a dangerous tackle on Tom Stephenson that had not been spotted and was not reviewed, much to the disgust of their director of rugby, Jim Mallinder, who reckoned the French broadcasters sabotaged the television review system in the home side’s favour. Friday’s return at the Gardens should be spicy.
Northampton twice came close to scoring a try at the end of the first-half – first when Burrell, having wasted players outside him, went for the corner and was ruled to have touched the ball down on the touchline as the referee lost contact with the television match official, and then when Stephenson was hauled down a metre short. Otherwise it was all Racing and when Carter left the field to a standing ovation having kicked three conversions out of four and been a model of efficiency, the prevailing hope was that he had started another French revolution.
