QUINS HIT WELSH FOR SIX IN ROMP
43 Cardiff 17
TABAI MATSON says his Quins are still hungry to get to be crowned European champions despite the Champions Cup being damaged and diminished by the Omicron variant.
The Kiwi saw his English kings battle their way to a bonus point victory over a badly weakened Cardiff Blues outfit to make it two wins from two in the Champions Cup.
While most of their rivals had to take the weekend off due to the virus sweeping the UK and Europe, Quins were fortunate to still play their fixture.
Head coach Matson said: “We are all being thrown curve balls, and we had a couple last night.
“We were lucky we had an early kick-off, with only two games able to happen.
“We knew Cardiff would still be a real threat and a problem for us today, no matter what side they were able to put out. We had to battle really hard in the first half especially.”
Inspired by England duo
Marcus Smith and former Cardiff Met player Alex Dombrandt, the Londoners ran in six tries ahead of their ‘Big Game 13’ with Northampton in eight days’ time in front of 85,000 fans.
Cardiff had led early on courtesy of a try from fullback Cam Winnett.
But Danny Care levelled before Flanker James Botham dived over the Quins line in reply. Fly-half Marcus Smith also scored. Smith hit a penalty before Cardiff Theo Cabango levelled at the break.
Cardiff melted as Quins turned up the second half heat and Dombrandt crashed over for the first of his tries. Joe Marchant, dived over in the left corner for the bonus-point score.
Dombrandt got his second try, and Andre Esterhuizen capped the rout.
QUINS: Tries: Care, Smith, Dombrandt 2, Marchant, Esterhuizen; Pen: Smith; Cons: Smith 5
CARDIFF: Tries: Winnett, Botham, Cabango;
Con: T Williams
■■IN Pool A’s late kick-off, Exeter lost 22-7 at Glasgow – Ross Thompson’s boot doing the decisive damage.