The Emirates Lions showed the ever-growing strength of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship by roaring to a EPCR Challenge Cup last-16 victory over Top 14 giants Racing 92in Johannesburg.

WhenEmirates Lions flank Emmanuel Tshituka received his marching orders fromreferee Karl Dickson in the first quarter of the Challenge Cup clash againstRacing 92, the result seemed inevitable.

TheEmirates Lions were leading 15-7 at that point thanks to converted tries fromcaptain Marius Louw and wing Edwill van der Merwe, to go with a Sanele Nohambapenalty, but having to play more than 60 minutes without a third of theirinfluential back row put the already unfancied hosts up against the odds.

However,what came next will surely go down as one of the most famous performances in Challenge Cup play-off history.

WhileRacing 92 twice brought themselves to within seven points of the lead eitherside of half time, it was the 14-man Emirates Lions who produced a stunningdisplay of attacking rugby to win 51-28 and seal their place in thequarter-finals for the first time.

“Iam immensely proud,” said head coach Ivan van Rooyen after the match. “The guysworked extremely hard to get the result, especially with the red card. Youcould see it in their faces, the guys are exhausted and tired, but that’s whatit takes to win games like this.”

Currentlyranked 11th in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, the Emirates Lions were certainly theunderdogs against a Racing 92 side that is hunting a play-off place in the Top14.

Amongthe superstars boosting Racing’s lineup in that match were South Africa’sWarrick Gelant, Argentina’s Juan Imhoff and French internationals Cameron Wokiand Wenceslas Lauret.

“Racingis a great international team full of Test stars,” explained Van Rooyen. “Weknew we really had to be good. If you allow them to run onto you, they willdamage you.

“Theyhave good backs all over the show, so it was important for us to be gooddefensively. We knew if we did that, we would get one or two counter-attackopportunities. We managed to use those, so I am really proud.”

FellowSouth African sides, the Cell C Sharks and DHL Stormers joined Leinster Rugbyas Vodacom URC representatives in the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals.

Bybeating Racing, the Emirates Lions became the fifth Vodacom URC team to progress to the ChallengeCup quarter-finals, joining Scarlets, Benetton Rugby, Cardiff Rugby and theGlasgow Warriors, who will host the Johannesburg outfit in the last eight.

“Itwas a tough game against Racing, so the first thing is to get the playersphysically ready for Glasgow,” said Emirates Lions defence coach Jaque Fourie.

“Wearen’t going there just to compete, we want to win. We have two games left inthe URC and we want tofinish on a high. So our focus is to win against Glasgow.”