The defence of the Champions Cup may not be Saracens’ priority because they have 35 docked Premiership points to make up, but this was a chastening bonus-point defeat, against a Racing side inspired by Finn Russell, that the holders would have struggled to contain even at full strength.
They will not be spooked into rushing all their England World Cup finalists back against Ospreys at Allianz Park on Saturday, although some will return after the club’s director of rugby Mark McCall speaks to them all individually at the start of the week. Of greater significance given their league position is the match at Bath the following week.
It is not just the likes of Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje, the Vunipola brothers and Jamie George who Saracens missed against a Racing side that started the match at full speed and kept the accelerator pressed down, but eight injured players. That list, including Brad Barritt, Liam Williams, Michael Rhodes and Alex Goode, gave McCall few options off the bench.
Racing have spluttered all season but they were at their most irrepressible, prompted by Russell at fly-half. It was not just that Saracens were some way below full strength but the beaten finalists in 2016 and 2018 had done their homework. They widened the point of attack to defuse their opponents’ rush defence and dictate the tempo, making the powerful centre Virimi Vakatawa a central figure, and they used their five lineout jumpers to contest when Jack Singleton threw in.
The England hooker, who mostly had a watching brief in Japan, was making his first start after rejoining the club from Worcester, but he had an afternoon to forget. His four throws in the opening half were all picked off and Saracens’ one meaningful attack before the interval ended when he was tackled by Baptiste Chouzenoux and penalised for holding on.
Saracens had little usable possession and did well to contain Racing to 18-3 at half-time. Maxime Machenaud made up for an early penalty miss by kicking two either side of a try by Vakatawa that the scrum-half engineered from the base of a ruck, firing a long pass that allowed the centre to change his line of attack and wrong-foot the defence.
Russell created the second try which was smartly finished by Teddy Thomas, although replays suggested the wing’s right foot had brushed the touchline. All Saracens had was a long-range penalty by Ben Spencer, but, after a series of mauls was repelled after the break, they scored a try out of nothing when Russell dropped Machenaud’s low pass and Nick Tompkins set off from halfway and set up Alex Lozowski.
It was a try built from nothing and stung Racing into retaliation. Russell started a move from deep with a step and a pass out of the back of his hand and finished it by selling a dummy to Nick Isiekwe 15 metres out. The home side chased the bonus point and it arrived 16 minutes from time when Wenceslas Lauret scored from a driving maul.
They should have scored more tries but were undone by a mixture of over-elaboration and a defensive light that never dimmed. “It was a tough afternoon,” said McCall. “We could not win any lineout ball, lost collisions and had nothing to hang our hat on. Racing were very good, but what we can take from this is that we showed togetherness in the last 20 minutes to prevent it becoming a 50-point defeat. The result will have no bearing on whether we bring our England players back against Ospreys. That decision will be down to whether they are ready. I think a few will be.”
