Lang pulls strings to put Quins in box seat

HARLEQUINS maintained their charge for a home semi-final with an easy victory over a young but outgunned Scarlets side to top Pool 2.

Quins also rung the changes and then turned on the style to run in five tries in a one-sided contest.

Head coach Mark Mapletoft is eying the last four. He said: “We just need to get a point from our final game away to Northampton. We will need to strike the right balance between trying to get a point and winning the game but if we defend as well as we did last week against La Rochelle and this week we will give ourselves every chance.”

Quins soon settled into a rhythm and with the penalty count largely in their favour, they were soon sieging the visitors’ line. From a five-metre-scrum, scrumhalf Dave Lewis sent centre Henry Cheeseman hurtling through.

With the forwards led by Charlie Matthews carrying hard into Scarlets’ territory, there was no let-up and, from a catch and drive, Quins made a beeline for the line before the alert Lewis successfully probed the unguarded blindside.

James Lang, having directed operations well from ten, added both conversions for a 14-0 lead.

Scarlets struggled to get over the gainline with their attacks ultimately too narrow and easy to defend against.

Quins were also smartly out of the blocks in the second period and, at the third attempt, their maul broke the Scarlets’ dam with blindside Archie White emerging from the pile of bodies. Quins then broke their defensive shackles and swarmed upfield with a series of short-range snipes near the Scarlets line.

The experienced heads of hard-carrying prop Mark Lambert and Matthews pounded the line and eventually Lang, hit it at a rate of knots to herald bonus point try number four.

Quins weren’t done and added a fifth after Scarlets coughed up possession and arch-poacher Ross Chisholm was soon on the case as he applied the afterburners.

Scarlets had the final say of the contest. After winning a penalty, and farming the catch and drive, the visitors forced their way over for a deserved consolation try via Bryce Morgan’s pushover effort – converted by Jack Maynard.

Scarlets’ coach Euros Evans said: “We didn’t have much in terms of attacking go forward, and obviously we are disappointed in terms of the result. However, player development is a big part of our focus and we had five debutants in the side.”