Quins too good for Blues

A second-string Harlequins secured their place in the LV= Cup semi-finals with a 23-7 win over Cardiff in a blistering encounter at the Stoop on Sunday.

With Nick Easter, Danny Care, Ugo Monye, skipper Chris Robshaw, Joe Marler, Mike Brown and George Robshaw, all missing through international duty, Conor O' Shea's young stand-ins were more than up to the task against a more experienced Cardiff outfit.

Both sides sought to attack with ball in hand at every conceivable opportunity in a breathless game of pace and power.

And, although the Blues were guilty of failing to convert good field position into points on a number of occasions, it is testament to a towering defensive effort from the home side that the scoreline was not closer.

Man-of-the-match Nick Evans produced a masterclass at fly-half that brought him a try plus 13 points with the boot, as Quins notched up their ninth straight win in all competitions.

And young winger Sam Smith continued his prolific try-scoring run with a magnificent finish midway through the first half.

Andreis Pretorius touched down for Cardiff in what had been a must-win encounter if they were to retain a slim chance of progressing, although Newcastle's victory over Exeter took matters out of their hands.

Electrifying

The visitors made clear their intentions from the kick-off and the hosts quickly found themselves mounting a frantic defence under sustained pressure inside their own half.

The Blues' powerful start paid off after just six minutes when Ben Griffiths' neat inside pass to Pretorious sent the blindside flanker over on the left. Ceri Sweeny converted to give the visitors an early seven-point lead.

But Quins are no strangers to playing high-tempo rugby and they immediately sought to hit back, pushing deep into Blues territory straight from the restart.

And, when Cardiff were pinged right under their posts for not releasing, hit back they did, Evans using his electrifying pace to pull one back on 13 minutes.

Opting for the scrum instead of the easy three points, scrum-half Karl Dickson drew the Welsh outfit's defence to release Evans, who blasted through the gap to touch down before converting to level the scores.

Six minutes later Evans put his side ahead with a straightforward three-pointer as the hosts began to find their momentum.

Quins' second try came on 24 minutes, a stunning counter-attacking move that saw the home runners streaming up the left following Dickson's quick tap-and-go from deep inside his own half.

The Blues' scrambling defence could not cope with the pace and young winger Smith finished off the move, latching onto the offload and sprinting in under the posts to score. Evans added the extras to make it 17-7.

Cardiff, however, knew what was required from this encounter if they were to keep their hopes of a semi-final place alive and battled hard to reduce the deficit before half time.

With just two minutes to go to the break, they too spurned three points in favour of a scrum when awarded a penalty yards out from the hosts' line.

Pretorious went agonisingly close to scoring another when he barged over after taking a quick tap from a second penalty when referee David Rose spotted a Quins' hand in at the scrum.

But the English official ruled that the back row had been held up and the home side closed out the half with their 10-point lead intact.

Cardiff kept up the pressure after the break and continued to batter Quins' line through several phases after working themselves into good attacking positions.

Onslaught

Twice they opted for scrums when Quins were penalised dangerously close to their line, but the hosts survived the onslaught thanks to some terrific tackling.

The first points of the second half finally came after 25 minutes through an Evans penalty, although that is not to say that this period was any less entertaining than the first.

Both sides continued to hammer at each other and within three minutes replacement Dan Fish was denied a score when he was bundled out while touching down in the corner at the opposite end.

Evans made it 23-7 as the game entered it's final ten minutes as the news came through that Newcastle had dashed any hopes the Blues had of progressing further.

The New Zealand fly-half missed his first kick of the match on 76 minutes but by then it did not matter as Quins' march towards silverware in 2011 had already taken another fiercely determined step forward.