Harlequins stayed in the hunt for a place in rugby’s European Cup quarter-finals while effectively knocking big-spending French side Racing-Metro out of contention on Sunday with a clinical 17-3 victory in London.
Harlequins win completed the double over Racing-Metro, who at least could console themselves with a more wholehearted performance than the limpid one in the 32-8 drubbing they took in Paris last Saturday.
Harlequins trail Pool 4 leaders Clermont, who have 15 points, by four points with two games remaining while Racing-Metro are joint bottom with Welsh outfit Scarlets on six points.
Racing had shown their intent to try to turn things round by making 14 changes to their starting line-up.
Among those to come in were several international heavyweights with Jonathan Sexton being paired for the first time with Mike Phillips while the latter’s compatriots Jamie Roberts and Dan Lydiate also lined up.
Harlequins eased to a 6-0 lead with two penalties by Nick Evans and the French side were reduced to 14 men when prop David Khinchagashvili punched Joe Marler but escaped with a yellow card.
‘Quins thought they had taken immediate advantage of his sin-binning when Evans went over after a brilliant move down the left but the video referee ruled Mike Brown had knocked on earlier in the play.
Evans missed a penalty chance but the 33-year-old former All Black five-eighth made no mistake with another attempt to give them a 9-0 lead after 25 minutes.
The hosts scored a try on halftime as the dynamic 20-year-old Walker raced through to touch down and, although Evans sent the conversion wide, they led 14-0 at the break.
Evans was unable to retake the field after the break following a heavy knock midway through the first half and was replaced by Ben Botica, who slotted a penalty in the 52nd minute to make it 17-0.
Sexton who had missed a penalty in the first half finally put Racing-Metro on the board with a penalty as the clock hit the hour mark.
Racing pressed for a late try but their efforts were summed up as centre Henry Chavancy knocked on metres out with the line beckoning.
