‘QUINS CAN TAKE TITLE’
Harlequins 43 Cardiff 17
TABAI MATSON claimed his Quins are still hungry to be crowned European champions despite the Champions Cup being severely damaged and diminished by the Omicron variant.
The Kiwi saw his English kings battle their way to a bonus-point win over a badly weakened Cardiff Blues to make it two Champions Cup wins from two.
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 admitted games being called off and casualties takes some of the gloss off the competition, insisting: “We are all being thrown a curve ball, and we had a couple last night. We were lucky we had an early kick-off with two games able to play.
“We’ve high expectations and desire to push to the second stage in Europe and we only control what we control.
“It’s a shame what is happening with Covid but it’s still club rugby’s premier cup competition and we want to win it.
“We knew Cardiff would still be a real threat and problem for us today no matter what side they were able to put out. We had to battle really hard.”
Inspired by England duo Marcus
Smith and former Cardiff Met player Alex Dombrandt, the Londoners ran in six tries and will now focus fully on staying virus-free over Christmas to play their Premiership “Big Game 13” with Northampton in eight days’ time.
Four tries in the space of 21 secondhalf minutes ensured Matson’s men made it two successive wins after Cardiff had led early courtesy of a try from full-back Cam Winnett.
Glasgow last night resurrected their Champions Cup campaign with a serious blow to Exeter’s quarter-final aspirations with a 22-7 win in Scotland.