Racing brush Scarlets aside

The French club run-in four tries before half-time through Maxime Machenaud, Joe Rokocoko, Chris Mascoe and Marc Andreu to open up a commanding 26-0 lead at half-time.

But after cruising through the opening 40 minutes Racing had Bernard le Roux sent off and Ben Tameifuna sent to the sin bin after the break to give the Scarlets a route back into the contest.

It allowed the home side to hit back with two tries in the second period through Aled Thomas and Lewis Rawlings but the deficit was too much for the Scarlets to overturn and Racing held on for a deserved victory.

There had been a sombre start to the game after a minute's silence and rendition of Les Marseillaise before kick-off for Racing's first game since the terrorist attacks in their home city nine days ago.

Racing got game's first try when scrumhalf Machenaud chased and touched down Rokocoko's kick down after the Scarlets covering defender DTH van der Merwe had misjudged the bounce.

Rokocoko then got the visitors second try with a trademark burst down the wing after 18 minutes.

The visitors had their third try of the match shortly before the half hour mark through number eight Chris Mascoe after good work by Machenaud and le Roux.

Racing secured the bonus point before half-time when the influential Machenaud found space and sent Marc Andreu over in the corner.

Three minutes after the interval the Scarlets' luck changed when le Roux was shown a red card for a stamp on Ken Owens' ankle on the floor.

They soon made the most of their numerical advantage as Owens floated a long pass out wide to put fullback Aled Thomas over in the corner.

Racing had replacement Tameifuna sent to the bin on 65 minutes for not staying on his feet and the home side grabbed a second try shortly after through Lewis Rawlings, but a penalty from fullback Johan Goosen made sure of the victory for the visitors.

The scorers:

For Scarlets:

Tries: Thomas, Rawlins

Con: Thomas

For Racing Metro:

Tries: Machenaud, Rokocoko, Masoe, Andreu

Cons: Machenaud 3

Pen: Goosen

Teams:

Scarlets: 15 Aled Thomas, 14 Michael Tagicakibau, 13 Gareth Owen, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 John Barclay, 7 James Davies, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Maselno Paulino, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Peter Edwards, 2 Ken Owens (captain), 1 Phil John.

Replacements: 16 Emyr Phillips, 17 Dylan Evans, 18 Samson Lee, 19 Tom Price, 20 Lewis Rawlins, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Mike Collins, 23 Steff Evans.

Racing Metro: 15 Johan Goosen, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Henry Chavancy, 11 Marc Andreu, 10 Remi Tales, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Chris Masoe, 7 Wenceslas Lauret, 6 Bernard Le Roux, 5 Francois van der Merwe, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Cedate Gomes Sa, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski (captain), 1 Julien Brugnaut.

Replacements: 16 Camille Chat, 17 Eddy Ben Arous, 18 Ben Tameifuna, 19 Thibault Dubarry, 20 Yannick Nyanga, 21 Mike Phillips, 22 Juan Imhoff, 23 Brice Dulin.

Referee: Greg Garner (England)

Assistant referees: Dean Richards (England), Peter Allan (Scotland)

TMO: Keith Lewis (England)

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