Too little, too late as Quins wilt in the sun
TABAI Matson conceded his side had “a steep, tough road to climb” in order to rescue the season as Quins crashed out of Europe in the Cape Town sunshine.
Stormers built a big lead before a late flurry of points from Quins. Matson now needs to pick up his players for the remaining three league games. Lying in eighth spot they need to win all of them and hope others slip up badly in order to snatch a play-off place.
“Clearly this campaign has been a failure. It’s disappointing to go out at this stage of such a big competition,” Matson said. “We have missed an opportunity. Danny Care said all week he has never won a knockout game in Europe, and sadly that is still the case.
“We have a steep, tough road to climb up to get into the top four. I know the lads will want to keep fighting to the end. That’s the way they are.”
Stormers held a 17-7 half-time advantage following a first half which began fast and furious but then became fairly disjointed.
Quins had arrived early for their South African trip in order to acclimatise, but they were still caught napping in the near 30 degrees temperature compared with the six they played in against Saracens last weekend.
Some of the crowd were still taking their sun-drenched seats, and Quins had not yet laid a hand on the ball, when flanker Deon Fourie burst clear and dived for the opening try after just
55 seconds. Scrum-half Herschel Jantjies began the move which then saw the ball swept skilfully from one side of the field to the other, before Suleiman Hartzenberg sent the 36-year-old Fourie racing over from 40 metres.
Quins hit back impressively from a lineout. Jack Walker’s throw was caught and slipped to Alex Dombrandt, and the England No.8 powered his way over in the left corner with Walker latching on to him for support. Marcus Smith added the extras but a slick Stormers
lineout move saw captain Steven Kitshoff rampage over the line before Fourie then took command of the ball and charged over for his second try.
Quins enjoyed a lengthy spell of possession and territorial advantage before the break but Stormers took to illegal means to stop their rivals crossing the line happily giving up a series of penalties, and they escaped as Quins failed to make their pressure toll.
With so many clear offences by the Stormers at the breakdown, coach Matson and his players must have wondered how French referee Pierre Brouzet kept his yellow card in his pocket and the hosts retained 15 men.
Brouzet ruled out a try for a double movement at the start of the second half. But there was no dispute when wing Damian Willemse took Suleiman Hartsenberg’s pass and acrobatically avoided touch to to reach out with one hand and ground the ball.
Mannie Libbock increased the lead with the first penalty of the game before replacement flanker Willie Engelbrecht bulldozed his way over for a fifth Stormers try.
But Quins kept fighting and finished with a flurry of tries. A charging Dombrandt crashed over for his second, Springbok centre Andre Esterhuizen galloped over for another, and England three-quarter Joe Marchant poached a third as the game drifted late into added time.
It was too little, too late as Quins crashed out of Europe and now have to focus on rescuing their the domestic campaign. the match, flanker Deon Fourie said: “Our defence is our foundation and it worked well today. Harlequins are a quality side and we needed to stay focused and finish off the chances we had. We are determined to go as far in this competition as we can.”
Stormers boss John Dobson claimed: “We didn’t let Marcus Smith get on the front foot too much. But I want to give Quins a lot of credit for the way they kept going and moving the ball. It was a joy to play against such an attack-minded team.”