Harlequins v Cardiff: Teams
Blues coach Dai Young has made two changes for Saturday's Heineken Cup clash with Quins at the Stoop.
Last Updated: 16/11/07 2:57pm
Cardiff Blues head coach Dai Young has made two changes to his starting line-up for Saturday's Heineken Cup clash against Harlequins at the Twickenham Stoop.
Both changes come in the front row where Tom Rhys Thomas replaces Gareth Williams at hooker and newly appointed Wales captain Gethin Jenkins comes in for John Yapp at loosehead prop.
Williams and Yapp both take their place on the bench, where they are joined by flanker Robin Sowden-Taylor who is named among the replacements instead of Richie Rees, who is ruled out with a hamstring injury.
Nicky Robinson and Nick MacLeod are both unavailable for selection due to ongoing injury problems, meaning Dai Flannagan will continue at fly-half.
Having opened their Heineken Cup campaign with a 34-18 win over Bristol last week the Blues travel to London knowing they face another stern examination.
"Harlequins will be a massive test for us, they are a much improved team and getting better week by week," said Young.
"They are a very difficult team to beat at the Stoop and have turned it into a bit of a fortress. We've watched them a lot on DVD and we've been impressed by them as a team.
"I was pleased with the Bristol result but we still need to be far more clinical. The try before half time was critical, but we had a lot of opportunities before that which we didn't score. We won't get many opportunities on the weekend but we have to make sure that we take them."
Harlequins: 15 M Brown; 14 S Keogh, 13 D Strettle, 12 D Barry, 11 U Monye; 10 C Malone, 9 A Gomarsall; 1 C Jones, 2 T Fuga, 3 M Ross, 4 O Kohn, 5 J Evans, 6 C Robshaw, 7 P Volley (capt), 8 N Easter.
Replacements: 16 C Brooker, 17 R Nebbett, 18 J Percival, 19 C Hala'Ufia, 20 O So'oialo, 21 A Jarvis, 22 T Masson.
Cardiff Blues: 15 B Blair; 14 T James, 13 J Robinson, 12 T Shanklin, 11 G Thomas; 10 D Flannagan, 9 J Spice; 1 G Jenkins, 2 T Thomas, 3 T Filise, 4 D Jones, 5 P Tito, 6 M Molitika, 7 M Williams, 8 X Rush (capt).
Replacements: 16 J Yapp, 17 G Williams, 18 R Sidoli, 19 S Morgan, 20 R Sowden-Taylor, 21 T Selley, 22 G Williams.
Referee: Pascal Gauzere (France)