Aviva Premiership Rugby Union club and the reigning champions of the event Harlequins FC proved their mettle in Europe as the best team in England once again as they hammered struggling Italian side Zebre 53-5 at home at Twickenham Stoop to maintain their unbeaten record in the Heineken Cup and move another step closer to qualification into the next round of the most prestigious club competition in European professional rugby. The win by bonus ensured that the English champions will only need to secure just a single point from their two remaining pool games in the Heineken Cup to top their group and go through to the quarter finals, which will further increase their chances of having a home draw for that stage of the tournament.
Harlequins FC were slow to get off the tracks and took some time to subdue the visitors to The Stoops but once two Zebre players picked up two yellow cards one after another, there was no stopping the English team and it was only a case of damage limitation for the away team as The Quins scored seven tries, while also collecting a whopping 18 points courtesy the right boot of Nick Evans during the match.
Ben Botica, Tom Casson, Sam Smith, Nick Easter, Karl Dickson and Danny Care – all crossed the try line for Harlequins FC, who was also given the added advantage of being awarded a penalty try. Ruggero Trevisan scored the only consolation try of the game for the Italian side as they suffered another mauling in the Heineken Cup.
However, the concession of the try against Zebre will definitely not make the coaching set up at The Quins happy as a clean sheet would have meant an added bonus point and they could have qualified for the next round with two games to spare.