Rugby-Racing pounce late to send holder Saracens out of Champions Cup

Substitute Maxime Machenaud pulled Racing back to within three points with a penalty as Saracens were forced to reshuffle their pack before a moment of brilliance from Finn Russell sparked the game's decisive moment. Russell found Virimi Vakatawa with a delicate chip over the Saracens midfield and the New Zealand-born centre powered into space before offloading back to the Racing flyhalf, who released Imhoff to cross with three minutes left on the clock.

Juan Imhoff capped a flowing break to score the only try in the dying minutes as Racing 92 came from behind to beat defending champions Saracens 19-15 in their European Champions Cup semi-final at Paris La Defense Arena on Saturday.

The victory sent France's Racing, who were runners-up in 2016 and 2018, into their third final at the expense of the three-times champions, and they await the winners of the second Anglo-French semi-final between Exeter Chiefs and Toulouse. Teddy Iribaren scored three first-half penalties to send Racing into the break with a 9-6 lead but Saracens turned up the heat after the restart via the boot of Alex Goode, who ended the match with five successful penalty kicks of his own.

Saracens made a bright start to the second period, dominating the scrum and putting Racing under pressure with their kicking game. Goode, filling in at flyhalf for the suspended Owen Farrell as he did in Saracens' thrilling quarter-final win over Leinster, gave his team a six-point lead with three penalty kicks, but Saracens lost Brad Barritt to a head injury just after the hour.

The captain's departure proved a bitter blow for Saracens, who had already lost half the team that took them to the title last season. Substitute Maxime Machenaud pulled Racing back to within three points with a penalty as Saracens were forced to reshuffle their pack before a moment of brilliance from Finn Russell sparked the game's decisive moment.

Russell found Virimi Vakatawa with a delicate chip over the Saracens midfield and the New Zealand-born centre powered into space before offloading back to the Racing flyhalf, who released Imhoff to cross with three minutes left on the clock. Machenaud made no mistake with the conversion, shredding Saracens' dreams of European glory.

Saracens will drop into England's second tier at the end of the 2019-20 Premiership campaign after being relegated for breaching salary cap rules and will not be allowed to compete in Europe as a second-tier club next season. Both teams were forced to contend with early injuries, with Racing losing flanker Fabien Sanconnie to a head injury in the third minute and Saracens centre Duncan Taylor going off with an injured left shoulder.