Harlequins held by Blues

Harlequins' hopes of qualifying from Pool Three received a serious blow as they could only manage a draw at home to Cardiff Blues.

A heavy defeat at Stade Francais on the opening weekend meant Dean Richards' side could ill-afford to drop points at home.

Nick Easter's try in stoppage time gave the hosts a 10-3 lead at the break but the Blues battled back with a score of their own from Jason Spice.

In the end Quins needed a Chris Malone penalty just to draw level, leaving them with only two points from as many games.

Stop-start affair

Ben Blair slotted over two penalties and a conversion for the visitors in a knock-on-athon that was dominated by referee Joel Jutge's whistle.

The French official was the busiest man on the park in a turgid opening 40 minutes that didn't liven up until the closing stages.

A Malone penalty was all Quins had to show for a spell of extended pressure after both sides had finally decided to keep the ball in hand rather than boot it away for territorial gain.

The fly-half was certainly involved in the action, missing a second penalty and also botching a long-range drop goal as well as carelessly colliding with team-mate Simon Keogh to end a promising attack.

Blair showed him how it should be done with his first penalty attempt though the Blues were no better than their opponents in the final third, often ruining good field position by losing their own line-out ball.

It seemed certain the score would be 3-3 at the interval until Easter - sporting a nasty cut above his right eye - strolled over from close range in his first home game since returning from the World Cup.

Malone's conversion opened up a seven-point gap that remained until seven minutes after the re-start when Blair kicked his second penalty.

Caught cold

However, Harlequins looked the more likely to score a try, so it came as a surprise when the Blues hit them with a sucker punch.

A failed attempt to find touch allowed winger Tom James to collect the ball and break through some weak tackling before offloading for scrum-half Spice to gallop over.

The conversion briefly gave the Magners League outfit their first lead of the afternoon, an advantage that lasted for all of two minutes as Malone kicked a long range penalty to level it up.

Both sides threatened dramatic late winners, David Flanagan and Malone each attempting last-gasp drop goals which failed to hit the target.

An infringement for crossing was a fitting end to a scrappy contest, the Blues much the happier side at the final whistle despite now managing just two road wins in 20 attempts in the tournament.