RELIEF FOR QUINS BUT NO TIME TO CELEBRATE

HARLEQUINS breathed a sigh of relief after overcoming Cardiff’s misfits but they did not stop to celebrate. Saturday night’s Christmas party booking was cancelled and focus turned towards next week’s big game at Twickenham. Quins were delivered a wake-up call by a Cardiff squad featuring 15 part-time players, with a late double from Alex Dombrandt (below) sparing their blushes and maintaining their winning start in Europe. Despite securing two victories in the Champions Cup, Quins recent performances have not hit the heights of last season’s Premiership campaign and wing Louis Lynagh insists there is more to come. ‘We were half asleep at the start so there’s definitely things we can improve on,’ said Lynagh. ‘Come the big game, against Northampton, we are going to show what we can do. I’ve never experienced a full capacity at Twickenham and the boys say you don’t experience anything else like it.’ With millions of pounds riding on the showpiece, Quins will be hoping that the squad are not hit by a Covid outbreak over Christmas. The Premiership returned its highest number of positive cases on Friday. Covid protocols are being ramped up and Quins coach Tabai Matson is confident his players will do everything in their powers to ensure the fixture goes ahead. ‘We were meant to have a Christmas party on Saturday night — drinking lots of beers in a closed space — but that definitely wasn’t going to happen,’ said Matson. ‘We just need to make sure we’ve got a healthy roster and follow the regulations. A lot of people at this time of year want to go and watch live events, so our main thing is to keep everyone healthy and safe.’