Harlequins 68-14 Bayonne: Marcus Smith masterclass racks up Quins' biggest ever Champions Cup win

Harlequins record their largest ever Champions Cup win, as they demolish Bayonne in their Champions Cup home opener.

After 20 minutes of back and forth between the two sides, Quins had a lineout five metres out. After collapsing, Cadan Murley latched onto a grubber kick from Marcus Smith to put him in under the posts. Smith’s boot managed to find its way to Kieran Treadwell, who was sitting on the wing, and beat out the Bayonne winger to grab his first try for the club.

Harlequins were putting plenty of pressure on the defence, as the redzone phases saw Fin Baxter run a great tip line, to cut through the Bayonne line and score. The visitors responded quickly, as Lucas Paolos finished off a manic run of play, where Tom Spring nearly ran in himself from far, but the second-row scored with a powerful push over the line.

Pedro Delgado secured the bonus point for Quins on the stroke of half-time, a strong pick-and-go simply could not be stopped by the French side.

Will Porter started the second half for Quins like they finished the first, with a Quins maul on the five-metre line going dead, and the scrumhalf sniping down the blindside to run in his score. Bayonne responded within ten minutes, Spring making the Quins defence look silly as he dummies his way through the gap just ahead of the line.

However it only took another few minutes for Porter to score his second: Nick David stepping his way through the defence, only giving it to his scrumhalf to finish off the rest. Cunningham-South got his turn to add his name to the scoresheet, as the Quins maul once again beat out the Bayonne pack, now at this point down to 13 men.

The maul was once again a catalyst for a score, Sam Riley’s turn to dot one over on the line, as Quins surpassed a half-century of points. Jamie Benson went around the outside of Cadan Murley to use the space on the overlap, where he had a clear path to run over yet another for the rampant Quins.

Treadwell grabbed his second, and Harlequins’ tenth as he ran in a free-flowing, quick hands play that defined Quins’ afternoon. Marcus Smith missed his first kick of the game that would’ve brought up 70 points. They moved up to third in Pool 3, as they will face tough tests against Stormers, and away to La Rochelle when the competition returns in January.

TRIES: 10 (Murley 22’, Treadwell 27’, 77’, Baxter 31’, Delgado 40’, Porter 42’, 52’, Cunningham-South 64’, Riley 67’, Benson 73’)

CONVERSIONS: 9 (Smith 23’, 28’, 32’, 40’, 43’, 53’, 65’, 68’, 74’)

PENALTIES: 0

DROP GOALS: 0

YELLOW CARDS: 1 (Evans 34’)

RED CARDS: 0

15. Nick David 14. Cassius Cleaves 13. Oscar Beard 12. Luke Northmore 11. Cadan Murley (Captain) 10. Marcus Smith 9. Will Porter 1. Fin Baxter 2. Jack Walker 3. Pedro Delgado 4. Guido Petti 5. Stephan Lewies 6. Jack Kenningham 7. Will Evans 8. Zach Carr

Replacements

16. Sam Riley 17. Boris Wenger 18. Will Hobson 19. Kieran Treadwell 20. Chandler Cunningham-South 21. Lucas Friday 22. Jamie Benson 23. Ben Waghorn

TRIES: 2 (Paulos 34’, Spring 49’)

CONVERSIONS: 2 (Spring 35’, 49’)

PENALTIES: 0

DROP GOALS: 0

YELLOW CARDS: 2 (Garcia Iandolino 54’, Heguy 63’)

RED CARDS: 0

15. Yohan Orabe 14. Jonah Thompson 13. Sirelli Maqala 12. Federico Mori 11. Victor Hannoun 10. Tom Spring 9. Baptiste Tilloles 1. Ignacio David Calles 2. Lucas Martin 3. Emerick Setiano 4. Alvaro Garcia Iandolino 5. Lucas Paulos 6. Alexandre Fischer (Captain) 7. Esteban Capilla 8. Manex Ariceta

Replacements

16. Vincent Giudicelli 17. Swan Cormenier 18. Marco Fepulea’i 19. Baptiste Heguy 20. Raphael Marchesin 21. Noa Traversier 22. Herschel Jantjies 23. Pyrénées Boyle-Tiatia

Cadan Murley found himself unlucky last year. A Six Nations debut against Ireland, scoring a try in the game, before not featuring for the English team in the rest of the tournament.

Features in all three summer games against Argentina and the USA saw Murley back in Borthwick’s cohort, however did not make the Autumn Nations squad.

No doubt, as one of the best wingers in the Premiership at the moment, and the maturity he has gained in his captaincy this season, he deserves another shot in the white shirt come the Six Nations.

Fallen out of favour with the Italian team, Mori last featured for the Azzurri in the 2024 Six Nations.

Since then, has started all but two games he has played for Bayonne, becoming a regular feature in their sides.

Can the heavy hitting centre find his way back into form to represent Italy in the next Six Nations tournament, or is his time up?

The second-rower, once an 11-time capped Irish player, hasn’t featured for the national team since 2023, in that season’s Six Nations.

This gap leaves him eligible to make the switch over to England. Whether he decides to stick to his allegiance to the green jersey, or revitalise his international career and make the switch is up to him.

It seems he has found a new-found value at the club he has returned to, after nearly a decade at Ulster, so it begs the question whether he changes his international team too.

Only once capped by the French team, Tom Spring has featured plenty for Bayonne in their last few seasons.

The ability to play fly-half, and across the back three, makes him an asset for any side, let alone one of the strongest national teams in the world.

Can the 23-year-old impress Fabian Galthié once again, or is the competition for a place in the French squad just too strong for most players?

Yes, probably the most obvious Six Nations pick from the Harlequins team for Steve Borthwick, but there’s nothing Marcus Smith can’t do at the moment.

Whilst he has featured mostly at fullback in the last year for England, he can still perform in the number ten shirt, as he has shown plenty in a Quins shirt.

With tough opposition from Fin Smith and George Ford, Marcus Smith may have done enough to put himself first in the footrace.