A series of pitch inspections were necessary during a day of torrential rain that had placed the match in considerable doubt before the weather relented and allowed the standing water to drain away.  The surface was still treacherous and very muddy but the match could be played.

The home side had the most to gain from this game. Victory would set up a qualification decider next week against Bristol and, hopefully, lead them into the quarter-finals of the competition.  They set out with considerable determination attacking through many phases and when they gained a penalty for offside choosing to find touch for an attacking lineout.  The pressure and willingness to move the ball quickly almost brought a try but the crossing obstruction which had allowed the gap was instantly penalised by the referee, the whistle blowing even before the Cardiff centre had crossed the line.

It took about ten minutes before Quins were able to mount any attack and then it ended with Luscombe bundled into touch still fifteen metres from the Cardiff line. But then Quins were pushed back again and forced to defend strongly close to their own line. Inevitably they conceded a penalty and this time Blair kicked for goal and duly opened the scoring.  Thus encouraged, Cardiff resumed the attack, exerting very considerable pressure and only good defence close to their own line kept Quins from conceding another score.

Quins were now getting back into the game and might have been better place had two penalties been kicked successfully.  Unfortunately, Malone appears to have little confidence in his kicking and, despite the wind behind him, both kicks drifted wide to the right.

Then from a lineout outside the twenty-two the ball was passed swiftly left to find their centre, Dafydd Hewitt cutting a line between Malone and Barry and crossing untouched under the posts.  Blair added the simple conversion.  Half-time followed shortly and Cardiff led 10 – 0.

Quins came out with greater determination in the second half and began to pressurise the Blues into unforced handling errors.  Eventually, after some ten minutes, the ball came out from a ruck in the Cardiff twenty-two and So’oialo passed quickly to Malone.  The latter’s long miss pass found Mike Brown who beat two tacklers and put Hal Luscombe in for the try in the corner.  Malone kicked the most difficult of his three attempts and added the points for 10 – 7.

Quins were now well back in the match.  The forwards continued to do good work and had not really been troubled in scrum or lineout. But within the next ten minutes two disciplinary errors cost Quins dear. First Hala’Ufia was adjudged to have come in at the side of a ruck. Then a high tackle by De Wet Barry on McLeod saw the centre shown the yellow card.  Both offences were punished by successful penalty kicks from Blair, widening the score gap to 16 – 7 after eighteen minutes of the second half.

Quins continued to try hard and there were good things from Tom Guest and Tom Williams, but despite the pressure created Cardiff were able to turn over ball and resume attack.  With ten minutes or so remaining a quadruple substitution failed to create any improvement.  Indeed, the opposite was the case as excellent work by the Cardiff forwards saw Shanklin driven over for the try that sealed the game.  Blair converted and the lead increased to 23 – 7.

Quins did not give up and came back at their opponents.  From a breakdown in the Cardiff twenty-two Jarvis moved the ball right towards a two man overlap and found Mike Brown.  The full back evaded the would-be tackler and scored the try.  Jarvis’ kick missed leaving a full time score of 23 – 12.

Quins supporters will be disappointed at yet another loss but there were many good things to be taken from the performance.  The forwards worked tirelessly and effectively and both Ceri Jones and Mike Ross tackled ferociously all night.  So’oialo, too, worked hard to direct the forward effort and to provide decent ball to the backs. Under the rain of high balls Mike Brown was sure and fearless and was instrumental in both tries.  Luscombe, too, had a good game.  The basic problem is the loss of form of Malone at fly half.  Jarvis is no better.

That is reflected in Dean Richards’ comments after the game when praised the performance of the front row but bemoaned the lack of game control.  Nevertheless, as a performance it was a substantial improvement over the previous outing against Leicester.

Blues: Ben Blair; Jamie Roberts, Tom Shanklin, Dafydd Hewitt, Gareth Thomas; Nick Macleod, Jason Spice; Gethin Jenkins, Gareth Williams, Tauf'au Filise, Deiniol Jones, Paul Tito, Maama Molitika, Martyn Williams, Xavier Rush (capt).
Replacements: John Yapp, Duane Goodfield for G. Williams (76), Scott Morgan, Mark Lewis, Richie Rees, Rhys Jones, Jamie Robinson for D. Hewitt (77). 

Harlequins: Mike Brown; David Strettle, Hal Luscombe, De Wet Barry, Tom Williams; Chris Malone, Steve So'oialo; Ceri Jones, Gary Botha, Mike Ross, James Percival, Nicolas Spanghero, Tom Guest, Paul Volley (capt), Chris Hala'ufia
Replacements: Tani Fuga for Botha (70), Ricky Nebbett, Ollie Kohn for Percival (70), Phil Davies for Hala'ufia (70), Danny Care, Adrian Jarvis for Malone (70), Tosh Masson for Barry (70). 

Sin Bin: Barry (58).

Attendance: 9,716 

Referee: Romain Poite (France)

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