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A Champions Cup of modest returns for the English was at least given a fillip by Quins. This reasonably comfortable win over Glasgow across the road from where the Calcutta Cup will be contested next month put the home team through to the last 16. No one will particularly relish a visit from one of the game’s more waspish teams, but it is fair to say any further progress will require an improvement on this.
Glasgow, champions of the United Rugby Championship, no less, were not quite there all evening. Perhaps they were thrown by loss of Sione Tuipulotu to an injury this week in training, which threatens his participation in Scotland’s Six Nations campaign. They scored an absolute beauty in the first half, as waspish a side as Quins, but they could not rouse themselves to score again.
Quins failed to secure the bonus point, which might have proved significant, but Racing’s win over Stormers means only Sale can pass them in third. The Sharks host Toulon, now confirmed winners of Pool 4, in Manchester today. A bonus-point win for Sale would push Quins into fourth, still enough for a place in the last 16.
Tuipulotu was not going to play in this game anyway, but the news for Gregor Townsend worsened only 10 minutes in, when Scott Cummings, one of Scotland’s locks, was forced off. He later appeared with his arm in a sling.
Better news was forthcoming in the form of Tuipulotu’s replacement, Stafford McDowall, who also assumed the captaincy in the absence of Kyle Steyn. He was instrumental in Glasgow’s try on the half-hour, a beauty finished by Tom Jordan.
McDowall released Kyle Rowe down the left wing, straight from a scrum in Glasgow’s own half. He kept up in support to take the return ball and slip it to Jamie Dobie, whose offload sent Jordan to the posts.
That was a highlight in a first half full of them. Quins had already opened a 17-0 lead at that point with two tries in the first quarter and a Marcus Smith penalty. Cadan Murley, included in Steve Borthwick’s England squad, was key to both tries. He took Smith’s cross-kick and set up position deep in Glasgow’s right corner. Two meaty drives by Quins’ locks paved the way for Chandler Cunningham-South, looking good again on the eve of the Six Nations, to open the scoring.
James Chisholm was one of those locks, moved up from his customary role in the back row, and he weighed in with the second. Murley came in from the blindside off an attacking Quins scrum to release Nick David on a run down the right. Cunningham-South’s offload sent Chisholm off on a gallop for the home team’s second. Another Murley run coaxed Glasgow into an offside position, and Smith opened up that 17-0 lead with the penalty.
Quins thought they had a third, when the punchy Ben Waghorn dummied and went, but the television match official alerted the referee to an obstruction. Oscar Beard’s dummy run opened up the gap for Waghorn by obstructing Huw Jones.
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A 10-point lead at half-time was better than nothing, but if anyone knows about teams that can suddenly burst into life Quins respected Glasgow enough not to feel comfortable with that. Glasgow did go on to dominate, but they were strangely off as the third quarter meandered scorelessly. Seb Cancelliere did claim a try in the right corner, but the TMO confirmed the referee’s suspicion that Josh McKay had knocked on in the build-up.
It was Quins who took the first bold step of the second half, as deep into it as the 68th minute. Glasgow were on the attack, but Quins turned the ball over, and Alex Dombrandt released Murley down the left. No one was at home for Glasgow. Murley put down his latest marker to Borthwick by running to the posts.
By then, the bonus point mattered not to Quins’ qualification chances, given Racing’s win. But Quins were not to know that, given the concurrent kick-off. They finished the match in the ascendancy, but a fourth try proved beyond them. Still, another team through will be of some consolation to English rugby.
