Heineken Cup: Harlequins v Biarritz full-time report

Ben Botica

Harlequins 40 Biarritz 13

Replacement fly-half Ben Botica starred with the boot as Harlequins started their Heineken Cup campaign with an impressive bonus point victory over Biarritz.

Botica replaced the injured Nick Evans early on at the Twickenham Stoop, and went on to kick 18 points as tries from Danny Care, Rob Buchanan, Jordan Turner-Hall and Seb Stegmann confirmed victory for a strong Quins side who really came to life in the second half.

The meeting of the current Aviva Premiership champions and the Amlin Challenge Cup holders was always one of the most eagerly anticipated of the opening round of Heineken Cup fixtures, and the quality of the teams was reflected in the symmetrical outlook to the first half scoring.

It was the hosts who impressively took the lead early on, as captain Chris Robshaw took a long lineout and immediately found the quicksilver Care, who burst through the visiting defence and raced over the line.

Evans kicked the conversion, but his evening was to be short lived as he was taken out late by Dane Haylett-Petty, with the back given a yellow card and reducing his side to 14 men.

Evans’s replacement Botica cancelled out Julien Peyrelongue’s penalty to restore Quins’ seven point lead, but the card had seemingly galvanised the French side and they grabbed a try – again from a lineout – as hooker Arnaud Heguy managed to ground the ball amidst a mass of bodies.

Peyrelongue kicked the conversion and then swapped penalties with Botica to ensure that the most hard-fought of first halves ended level at 13-13, but it was Quins who were back on top at the start of the second half as another trademark burst from Care ended with Buchanan muscling his way over the line, and Botica extending the advantage to seven points.

The replacement fly-half, like Evans a New Zealander, was showing no signs of nerves as he filled the more experienced man’s boots, and another penalty extended the lead before another from near halfway sailed over the posts to make it 26-13.

Care’s pace was causing Biarritz problems, and another break forward a quarter of an hour from time eventually resulted in Turner-Hall going over to all but confirm victory for the impressive hosts. Botica converted a sixth successful kick from seven attempts.

Quins were now chasing the fourth try and a bonus point, and it arrived when replacement Stegmann got on the end of a move to score in the left corner after a pass from Mike Brown. Botica, typically, ended the night by slotting over a tricky conversion with ease.

The earlier match in Pool Three saw Connacht earn a hard-fought 19-10 victory over Zebre in Parma.

John Muldoon scored the visitors’ only try 18 minutes from time, with a conversion and four penalties from Dan Parks proving all important for the Irish side as they opened their campaign with a victory over the weakest team in the Pool.

Mark Jones – follow me on twitter

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