The Blues knew matching Edinburgh’s result against London Irish would secure home advantage in the last eight but a late, late Lee Jones try at Murrayfield meant they finished agonizingly short of top spot.
They pushed hard for a fourth score after hearing the news from Scotland but were held up over the line as they looked to build on a brace of tries from Alex Cuthbert and one from Lloyd Williams.
Racing could have spoilt the party completely right at the death had Sireli Bobo held on to a potential scoring pass with the final play but that would have been incredibly tough on the Blues faithful who were already shell shocked by Edinburgh’s heroics against London Irish.
There was also worrying news for Wales, unfortunately, as Gethin Jenkins limped off with what Gareth Baber described as tweaked knee ligaments in the first period.
Although they won in France in Round 1, the Blues’ endured an anxious 80 minutes even before the drama at Scottish HQ as Racing refused to give up the ghost despite knowing their European dream had ended long before they arrived in the Welsh capital. Â
The lead changed hands an incredible six times in the first half alone at the Cardiff City Stadium, with both sides grabbing two tries in the opening 40.
Racing opened the scoring courtesy of a Jonathan Wisniewski penalty on five minutes but the Blues hit back in style as Williams crossed just 60 seconds later. The in-form scrum-half charged down Francois Steyn’s attempted clearance to dot down just to the left of the posts, with Leigh Halfpenny adding the conversion for a 7-3 lead.
Halfpenny’s first penalty extended the home advantage to 10-6 on 11 minutes but he was off-target with a monster effort four minutes later.
Cuthbert then nearly pounced for an intercept score following a loose pass from Wisniewski but instead of being a potential 14 points to the good the Blues found themselves trailing just after the 20-minute mark. Former Exeter Chiefs full back Josh Matavesi finished off a well-worked move down the right-hand side and Racing were suddenly 11-10 ahead.
Wisniewski missed the attempted extras but landed a long-range penalty with his last involvement before limping off injured with 25 minutes played.
A second Halfpenny penalty cut the deficit to 14-13 before his inventive break saw the Blues regain the lead. The British & Irish Lions tourist made inroads on halfway before his offload bounced off an opponent and into the grateful arms of Cuthbert who raced home from 40 metres.
With Halfpenny completing the seven-point score, the Blues were back in control at 20-14 but, again, the lead didn’t last long. Racing created a huge overlap on the left after a strong burst from inside centre and Heineken Man of the Match Fabrice Estebanez and Fijian wing Bobo supplied the finish.
Sebastien Descons converted to make it 21-20 and, although Halfpenny kicked the Blues ahead once more, a 51-metre strike from Steyn saw the visitors take a 24-23 lead into the interval.
The Blues enjoyed the perfect start to the second period as Cuthbert saw off Bobo’s last-gasp tackle to claim his second try just a minute in, with Halfpenny’s excellent form with the boot continuing as he sent over the touchline conversion.
A fourth penalty from Halfpenny, who finished with 21 points, succeeded a first from Descons to leave the Blues with a 33-27 lead with just under half an hour remaining but Steyn cut the gap to three with a second 50-metre strike on 62 minutes.
The tight nature of the contest ensured a thrilling finish was always going to be on the cards but no one could quite have predicted the extent of the drama that followed.
And while neutrals will marvel at yet another pulsating end to the group stages of Europe’s premier club competition, the Blues will ponder what might have been as they begin to think about facing the reigning champions in their own backyard.
