Jack’s back at his best to help Quins finish on top
JACK Clifford gave Eddie Jones a Six Nations selection nudge as the flanker capped his recall to the England squad with a man-of-the-match display for Harlequins in Agen.
A bonus-point victory means Paul Gustard’s side qualify top of Pool 5 and in contention for what would be their fourth Challenge Cup title.
Clifford was outstanding all evening and opened the scoring before further tries from Max Crumpton, Gabriel Ibitoye, Nathan Earle and Joe Marchant sent Quins into the latter stages.
Clifford said: “It was nice to get the call-up. It was a bit unexpected, but it’s really good to be back in the England fold after a few months where it’s not been going so well.
“I’m happy to be back playing and to get a try is great. It was good to get a bonus point,we needed it.
“There are big challenges coming up so hopefully we can take the momentum from this into the Premiership.”
Clifford put his team ahead with a close-range effort after sustained pressure. Agen winger Valentin Saurs levelled the scores, but Quins came again and a line-out close to the French line saw impressive No.8 Alex Dombrandt pop the ball up for Crumpton.
There was still time for Ibitoye to dart through off a scrum. Marcus Smith kicked two conversions for a 19-7 half-time lead.
In the second half Danny Care’s outstanding chip found Earle and the winger made a difficult finish look easy to score the crucial fourth.
Following his England snub, Care was in fine form and kicked again to find Marchant to score.
Quins saw Lewis Boyce yellow carded for a high tackle and it allowed Jordan Peyri and Nicolas Metge to grab Agen consolations, but there was no doubting who was the better side.
Quins head of rugby Gustard said: “I thought Jack was outstanding. He celebrated his call-up to the England squad and he’s been great since coming back from injury.
“The result was the most important thing. For the most part we played really well. Our attack was very efficient in the first half but we lost our way a bit with our kicking game and we’ll work hard on that for the next stage.”