Ruthless Herron boots Biarritz to victory over Racing

English fly-half Brett Herron produced a masterclass with the boot, claiming 23 points as promoted Biarritz stunned visitors Racing 92 28-19 in the third round of the Top 14 on Saturday.

The former Ulster and Harlequins playmaker, who joined the south coast club in the close season, was in devastating form with the boot, on target with a conversion and seven penalties as he punished a series of indiscretions from the Parisians who had started the season with back-to-back wins.

Herron missed an early sighter, his only failure of the afternoon, but soon put Biarritz on the board.

The home side collected the first try of the game after 26 minutes when hooker Lucas Peyresblanques muscled over from close range.

Racing hit back when Kurtley Beale set up Juan Imhoff for a try but Herron's boot gave Biarritz a 13-5 lead at the break.

He then popped over another five penalties in the second half as Biarritz took a grip on the match.

Racing did spark on the hour when hooker Camille Chat notched their second try and three minutes from time Baptiste Chouzenoux also plunged over but it was not enough to save Racing from their first defeat of the season. Nor could they rescue a defensive bonus point.

A late penalty by Benjamin Urdapilleta saw Castres grab a last gasp draw at home to Bordeaux-Begles.

Castres, who had won their opening two matches, took the early initiative through Gaetan Barlot's seventh minute try but three Francois Trinh-Duc penalties kept Bordeaux in touch.

They trailed 13-9 at the break but soon took control of the match with Ben Lam and Cameron Woki both touching down shortly after the restart.

Uruguayan scrum-half Santiago Arata burrowed his way through to give Castres hope on the hour although their hopes appeared to be dashed shortly after when South African lock Ryno Pieterse was sent off for a dangerous tackle on Maxime Lucu.

Four minutes from time, however, an ever-cool Urdapilleta stepped up to level the match at 23-23.

The other two early games saw comfortable bonus point wins for Lyon, who ran in seven tries in a 47-3 hammering of Perpignan, and Brive who beat Pau 30-13.

Those wins lift Lyon and Brive to the top of the table where they join Castres on 10 points.

That will change if Toulouse, who go into round three with nine points, get something out of their game against Montpellier later on Saturday.

© 2021 AFP