A late try from a lineout drive saw Racing 92 beat the Highlanders 45-38 in their match in Hong Kong.
With the score tied at 38-38, Racing set a maul and drove 40m from a lineout to get inside the Highlanders 22. The Highlanders held them out, but were penalised in the process and after the advantage came to nothing, the French team kicked for the corner and drove over.
It is hard to read too much into the loss, although the Highlanders showed their firepower at times. They scored some good tries, running into space and supporting play well. Matt Faddes crossed for two, while setting up a third when he commited the defence and offloaded to put Liam Squire into space up the wing.
The lineout operated well, particularly in the first half, while the scrum was a mixed bag. Indeed the game was littered with scrum resets, particularly in the first half.
The Highlanders made a raft of changes around the 50 minute mark, as many young players made appearances.
Second five-eighth Richard Buckman left the field just after halftime, appearing to hurt his shoulder while scoring a try. He is to be assessed by medical staff.
Despite the high score, it took a while for the game to get going.
The first half was a messy affair, which saw penalties and scrum resets dominate, as neither team got a flow on and both had men yellow-carded. After getting the scoring underway via a penalty try from a scrum, the Highlanders were forced to withstand a lot of pressure on defence. The lack of possession and penalties conceded eventually told and Racing scored two tries, taking the score to 12-7.
The Highlanders struck back in the 10 minutes before the break. Faddes crossed twice, regathering a Lima Sopoaga chip kick the first time and receiving a Waisake Naholo offload the second.
After leading 21-12 at halftime, the Highlanders scored with the first play of the second half, but conceded three tries in ten minutes to go behind. The game had loosened up and the Highlanders hit back, as Squire's try levelled the score at 31-31.
The teams then traded tries again, before it tightened up in the final 10 minutes and Racing utilised their maul to score the winner.
