Glasgow Warriors 29-19 Racing 92: Hosts book spot in Champions Cup knockout stage

Glasgow Warriors booked their spot in the knockout stages of the Champions Cup with a clinical destruction of Racing 92 at Scotstoun.

First-half tries from George Horne, Jamie Dobie, Sebastian Cancelliere and Sione Tuipulotu put the hosts in control, with Vinaya Habosi responding for the French side.

Rory Darge crossed after the break and although substitute Lee-Marvin Mazibuko and Tristan Tedder hit back for the visitors, Glasgow closed it out for an important bonus-point win.

Warriors face English Premiership side Harlequins at the Stoop next weekend as they look to secure a higher spot in the final pool standings and ensure a more favourable draw in the next round.

They came flying out of the blocks and were over the Racing line with barely two minutes on the clock.

Tuipulotu made a magnificent break from deep and a few phases later some lovely handling allowed Josh McKay to put Horne away under the sticks and become Glasgow’s record try-scorer in European competition.

Horne had to leave the field shortly after for a head injury assessment and did not reappear, but his replacement Dobie took no time to make his mark, getting on the end of a powerful burst from Matt Fagerson to dive over for the second try.

Warriors were cooking and some exquisite handling in the midfield carved up the Racing defence and set Cancelliere free to score.

The visitors finally showed some signs of life five minutes before the break, Antoine Gibert’s crossfield kick finding Habosi to score and reduce the deficit to 10 points.

Glasgow hit back almost immediately, Tuipulotu arriving onto the ball like a battering ram to cut through the defence, skip past Henry Arundell and dive over to establish a 15-point advantage at the break.

The home side all but finished the contest when Darge peeled off the back of a rolling line-out maul to go over for try number five.

Racing then enjoyed their first period of sustained pressure in the match and were rewarded with a try from Mazibuko.

The Parisians had belatedly arrived at the party and Tedder finished off a lovely passage of play to score their third try.

It was too little too late, however, as Glasgow banked the five points to ensure their European challenge will continue into the knockout stages.

Glasgow: McKay, Cancelliere, Jones, Tuipulotu, Steyn, Jordan, G Horne, Sutherland, Matthews, Z Fagerson, Brown, Cummings, M Fagerson, Darge, Mann.

Replacements: Hiddleston, Bhatti, Talakai, Samuel, Miller, Ferrie, Dobie, Weir.

Racing 92: Spring, Habosi, Tedder, Chavancy, Arundell, Gibert, Le Bail, Julien, Kaitu’u, Sordoni, Palu, Kpoku, Zinzen, Diallo, Baudonne.

Replacements: Escobar, Ben Arous, Mazibuko, R. Taofifenua, Dayimani, Labarbe, Lancaster, Idrissi.