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Face à leur ancien voisin des Wasps
Harlequins head coach John Kingston believes domestic rivalry will add an extra edge to his side’s Champions Cup clash with Wasps.
The two Aviva Premiership sides clash at Adams Park with the home side looking to record their first win in Pool 2 after losing to Leinster in Dublin.
Quins, meanwhile, already have a victory on the board after seeing off Castres at the Twickenham Stoop.
The Premiership meeting between the two sides in September ended in a narrow Harlequins win, and Kingston knows Dai Young’s men will be desperate to even the score.
Kingston said: “There is always a little extra edge to games like this because the players know each other so well.
“They are used to coming up against each other, and some of the guys are also used to playing together when they are in camp with England.
“In that situation there are long-running battles players enjoy and there will be guys they want to get one over. It means it is sure to be a fiercely contested game, Wasps will want to get that win and we want to make it two from two.”
One man who starred for Quins against Castres was scrum-half Danny Care. The scrum-half scored the only try of the game and, along with fly-half Nick Evans, marshalled the side superbly from half-back.
Kingston believes Care’s form is partly down to his happiness at recently becoming a father for the first time.
He said: “You can see Danny is a man very much at peace with himself. He is playing the game with a smile on his face and he is very dangerous when he is enjoying himself on a rugby field.
“I think in the two or three weeks before his little boy Blake was born he was a little bit nervous, but he is a man who is definitely in a good place right now.”
Wasps have been boosted by the news that England second-row Joe Launchbury has signed a new contract with the Coventry-bound club.
The 23-year-old said: “I am so excited to continue to play with this talented group of players and feel we are developing a team which we can all be proud of.
“This is very much a environment and culture I believe in and I want to be part of it going forward.”
Match facts
- Although these sides have met each other on numerous occasions domestically, this will be the first time they have contested a game in the top tier of European competition.
- The sides did meet in the 2010/11 quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup with Quins coming out on top 32-22.
- Harlequins have faced fellow English sides seven times in this tournament and lost five, although they have won the last two (both against Gloucester).
- Nick Evans can go over the 300 point mark in this tournament – he is currently on 297 points after his 20 points against Castres Olympique last weekend.
- Joe Launchbury made 22 tackles last weekend against Leinster, no player made more.
- Ashley Johnson won more turnovers than any other player last week with his four turnovers against Leinster.
- Harlequins’ Charlie Matthews and George Robson stole two lineouts each last weekend against Castres Olympique, only Munster’s Peter O’Mahony stole more (3).
- Nick Evans kicked the most goals (7) of any player to maintain a 100% goal kicking record in last weekend’s Champions Cup games.
- No player has made more offloads in the tournament so far than Harlequins’ Nick Easter (5).
- Harlequins were the only team not to concede a try in last weekend’s fixtures in the Champions Cup.
Auteur d'un sans faute absolu depuis le début de l'European Rugby Challenge Cup (trois victoires bonifiées en trois rencontres)
Harlequins won the domestic dispute with Wasps on the grand European stage to make it two from two and set up potential Pool 2 deciders in the back-to-back contests with Leinster in December.
The Quins pack held the aces in the scrums and a penalty try from their efforts proved the difference in a tight and passionate Adams Park encounter.
Wasps, who lost their group opener away to Leinster, now have to hope for others to slip up while Harlequins followed up their defeat of Castres Olympique with this 23-16 victory to keep their knock-out stages hopes burning brightly.
The Premiership rivals – contesting a game in the top tier of European competition for the first time – nevertheless know each inside out and that familiarity made for a tense opening.
Wasps had a seventh minute scare when dazed outside half Andy Goode was forced off for attention and during his absence opposite number Nick Evans got the scoreboard moving with his first penalty goal.
That took the former All Black through the tournament 300 points barrier and some fast and frantic stuff followed with both sides having openings with the ball in hand.
But when Quins were penalised for not releasing Goode, back in the thick of things, levelled matters through his trusty boot taking him to 624 points in all European competitions.
But Wasps found themselves behind again just two minutes later, scrum half Danny Care taken out off the ball and Evans making no mistake with the penalty.
Hooker Dave Ward gave a marvellous imitation of a wing in full flow to have the Wasps alarm bells ringing but Wasps save themselves from more punishment when TMO Carlo Damasco ruled that lock Charlie Matthews had been help up by the posts and failed to ground the ball for a potential opening try.
That score was not delayed for long – but it went Wasps’ way.
Scrum half Joe Simpson did a fantastic job in ripping the ball from back rower Luke Wallace’s grasp, turned and accelerated away for a brilliant solo effort try that Goode converted for the home side to go ahead for the first time.
It also ended Harlequins efforts to keep their line intact after 110 minutes following their shut-out of Castres in Round 1.
If that was a special individual effort, then Harlequins’ response was to produce a glorious flowing team effort that ended with Mike Brown putting Heineken Man-of-the-Match Matthews over and this time Italian referee Marius Mitrea had no need to refer the matter to his TMO.
Evans was on target with the conversion to push Quins three points clear just before the break and after the restart there was more of the same from the boots of the No 10s.
Evans struck first but Goode responded in style – on target from a massive 54 metres to keep the gap at just three points.
And with an hour of the action gone it was back to all square as Goode struck yet another penalty sweetly to ensure there would be all to play for in the final quarter.
The Quins pack took matters into their own hands, driving the Wasps eight back at successive scrums and with Nick Easter controlling matters the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try that Evans converted.
That was replicated at the next scrum as the Quins pack turned the screw but Evans was off target with a long range penalty goal chance that would have opened up a two-score advantage.
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