"Two weeks ago here, we watched this same team put 60 past the hitherto unbeaten Stormers from South Africa on the way to qualifying from the Champions Cup, a competition for the best domestic sides in Europe and, as if that were not enough, South Africa, a land of frightening beasts and double World Cup-winners. This is the same team that won in La Rochelle only last weekend to clinch that home tie in the last 16."
"Well, you would never have guessed it, had you been here to witness the latest capitulation at the Stoop, a 34-7 humiliation on Saturday. Only one team in it, is the cliche that most readily comes to mind. Leicester, who have it all to play for in the Prem, in a way that Harlequins do not, utterly dominated their hosts up front, from which flowed all else."
"Cameron Henderson, not required by Scotland, was magnificent again in the engine room; Tommy Reffell, not required by Wales (really?), maddening at the breakdown, and Joe Heyes, very much required by England, squeezed penalty after penalty out of the Harlequins scrum. This was no bad place to be if you were Six Nations-spotting. Indeed, Leicester's props will probably be facing each other across the road in a fortnight, when England entertain Wales on the opening weekend."
Harlequins had recently scored 60 against the previously unbeaten Stormers and won in La Rochelle to clinch a home tie in the Champions Cup last 16, enabling Leicester to enter the competition. Despite those feats, Harlequins were comprehensively beaten 34-7 at the Stoop by Leicester Tigers. Leicester dominated the scrum, turning pressure into penalties and a bonus point that lifted them into the Premiership top four. Cameron Henderson excelled in the engine room, Tommy Reffell impressed at the breakdown, and Joe Heyes repeatedly won penalties. Leicester achieved this despite 12 players and four staff contracting E. coli in Cape Town.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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