Will Muir earns Bath thrilling victory against Racing 92 to earn last-16 spot

A tasty Anglo-French contest on a perfect clear winter’s day offered a further reminder that the Six Nations is not the only compelling rugby show in town. At the final whistle there was also pure delight for Bath, now guaranteed to feature in the Champions Cup last 16 and still unbeaten after their third successive victory in pool two.

Racing, in negotiations to sign England’s erstwhile captain Owen Farrell from Saracens, had eased into a 22-8 lead thanks to third-quarter tries from their big No 8 Kitione Kamikamica and their exiled English winger Henry Arundell. In a fluctuating, open game, however, Bath roared back to 22–22 with 17 minutes left thanks to tries from Alfie Barbeary and Joe Cokanasiga before Will Muir’s 72nd-minute score dramatically tipped the scales in Bath’s favour.

Even the late dismissal of Barbeary for a second yellow card, which may yet impact on his availability for the start of the Six Nations, could not save Racing, coached by the former England supremo Stuart Lancaster. The visitors had arrived knowing they badly needed to win or see qualification drift out of their control but despite the presence of Siya Kolisi, the World Cup-winning South Africa captain, they could not quite rise to the occasion.

Previous defeats to Harlequins and Ulster had left the Parisians scant margin for error. An 18th-minute score for Nolann Le Garrec, along with a conversion and a penalty from the same player, helped Racing into a 10-8 half-time lead but it was far from plain sailing for the visitors. The Racing loose-head Hassane Kolingar conceded three penalties in the first quarter alone, with the Italian referee increasingly finding reasons to reward the home scrum.

Barbeary being in the sin-bin for making contact with the head of Racing’s full-back Max Spring did temporarily reduce Bath’s momentum but they deserved their belated first-half try, Thomas du Toit barging over from close range.

They were fortunate, though, that Arundell was not initially at his fizzing best, the exiled English wing failing to take two try-scoring opportunities in the first half. Arundell, who knows this area well and watched Bath as a youngster, twice found himself with just one man to beat but, whether out of nerves or a lack of confidence, could not make them pay.

There were plenty of other good pre-Six Nations individual match-ups. Gaël Fickou ran straight through Olly Lawrence on one occasion while Barbeary demonstrated that French loose forwards do not have a monopoly on galloping ball-handling. Ben Spencer, surely another England squad probable, had another good game at scrum-half while Cameron Redpath, alongside his compatriot Finn Russell, again oozed quality.

It was Racing, though, who went further ahead within three minutes into the second half. Bath had left oceans of space free on their right flank and a cross-kick from Antoine Gibert gave Kamikamica plenty of time to collect and score. When Arundell then eased over after smart work down the blindside from Le Garrec and Maxime Baudonne, it left Bath facing a seriously uphill task.

The challenge merely served to galvanise them. Barbeary’s 59th-minute try brought the crowd alive and three minutes later a lovely backdoor offload from Lawrence and an artful flick-on from Russell helped to put Cokanisaga over in the corner. The drama was not finished, with powerful bursts from Barbeary and Lawrence putting Muir over for the crucial bonus point score.