Harlequins 20 – 45 Cardiff Blues
Cardiff Blues knew exactly what they had to do to reach the quarter-finals of the Amlin Challenge Cup when they arrived at the Twickenham Stoop, but wobbled horribly for the first 10 minutes.
They found themselves eight points adrift in those opening 10 minutes despite aiming for a minimum target of three tries and a 13 pint victory. That was what was required to overtake Ulster in the final qualifying position for the Amlin Challenge Cup and that George Lowe try and Rory Clegg penalty for the home side merely made their task all the more difficult.
But the Blues managed to steady their ship and got their attacking game going so well that they had secured a try bonus point by half-time. Gareth Thomas, Ben Blair, Ceri Sweeney and Xavier Rush stopped the rot and put the Blues right on the front foot.
Even though they leaked two more tries, to Quins’ England duo of Nick Easter and Danny Care, they had turned that early eight point deficit into an eight point advantage.
British & Irish Lions centre Jamie Roberts added two more tries in the second half and the consistent boot of Blair provided 15 points to complete a comprehensive victory.
It meant the Blues overtook Ulster and Gloucester in the rankings for the three Heineken Cup runners-up who will join the Amlin Challenge Cup Pool winners in the last eight of that tournament.
Now last season’s Heineken Cup semi-finalists can look forward to a trip to the north-east to face Newcastle Falcons in the Amlin quarters.
