Harlequins 24 Glasgow Warriors 7

Harlequins booked their place in the Champions Cup last 16 as England hopefuls Chandler Cunningham-South and Cadan Murley delivered eye-catching performances in the final audition before the Six Nations.

This has been a tough season for back-rower Cunningham-South, who has found himself frequently outside of his club’s first-choice XV. The return to fitness of Ollie Chessum also does not bode well for his chances of retaining a starting shirt from England’s Autumn Nations Series campaign.

But much like Will Greenwood used to magically hit form just as England selection came around so, curiously, Cunningham-South suddenly rediscovered his boisterous best against Glasgow, scoring one try and setting up another for James Chisholm. His flying dreadlocks were a frequent feature of the contest with both his carrying and tackling having far more bite than recent weeks. Early in the second half, he dump-tackled Glasgow wing Kyle Rowe into touch and sported a wicked grin with half the Warriors pack queueing up to fight him.

“That’s been his best game for us this season,” Danny Wilson, the Harlequins head coach, said. “I thought he was very good tonight, very physical, carried well. He played 80 minutes as well and I think he has responded really well to not being selected for a couple of games. He came off the bench for us twice and played really well and he has carried that into a good start.

“I am really pleased with the performance. We only had a two-day prep coming back from Toulon on the Monday. Boys trained brilliantly and put a game plan in place that the guys executed excellently. That’s a good team we have beaten there, a very good team and we have beaten them quite convincingly.”

Murley scored Harlequins’ third try, displaying his blistering pace down the touchline and appearing in many of his team’s best attacking moves. Aside from his speed, his best asset is his apparent telepathy with fly-half Marcus Smith – with the pair featuring in nearly all of Quins’ best attacks – which will count well in his favour as England head coach Steve Borthwick ponders his back-three options. “He’s electric,” Wilson added. “I am hoping he goes into this Six Nations campaign and gets some recognition.”

As a spectacle it was decent fare to watch with both teams happy to attack from anywhere on the pitch, most notably when Tom Jordan scored for Glasgow, who had already qualified, following a first-phase strike move from just outside their own 22.

The suspicion remains, however, that as easy as both sides are on the eye, they will be chewed up by the first big horrible French pack they come across.

All three first-half tries came from attacking scrums. The first started with Smith breaking right and throwing a long miss-pass to Murley, who was brought down five yards out. Chisholm thundered forwards again and then Cunningham-South burst over with Smith adding a conversion.

For the second, they broke left through Smith, Murley, Tyrone Green and Nick David, who flew down the touchline. Cunningham-South delivered another rampaging carry and offloaded to Chisholm, who picked a line a prime Christian Cullen would be proud of, barrelling over three would-be tacklers in the process.

Smith converted and added a penalty after Murley again broke from a scrum. Yet Quins did not have a monopoly on set-piece strike moves as Glasgow demonstrated in a glorious try. This time, Glasgow’s starting position was just outside their own 22 from a scrum but it made no difference as Stafford McDowall put Rowe away down the left and received his return pass. Jordan ran the perfect support line to go under the posts and keep Glasgow firmly in the contest.

Quins centre Ben Waghorn had a try disallowed right at the end of the first half for a block by Oscar Beard on Huw Jones but so did Glasgow winger Sebastián Cancelliere on 52 minutes after Josh McKay was deemed to have knocked on.

After so much sharp intricate attacking play in the first half, the second half was a slop fest, particularly around the line-out where both hookers lost the ability to throw straight. “We were the architects of our own demise,” Franco Smith, the Glasgow head coach, said. “We are a proud game and don’t want to lose so from that perspective it is a kick in the guts.”

Glasgow will feel rightly aggrieved at the manner that Waghorn was allowed to win the turnover leading to Murley’s try, having entered the ruck at a 90-degree angle. Quins then shipped the ball left to Murley, whose gas did the rest. Even without a bonus point, Racing 92’s win over the Stormers ensures they will finish in the top four of their pool which guarantees qualification to the last 16.

Match details

Scoring sequence: 5-0 Cunningham-South try; 7-0 Smith con; 12-0 Chisholm try; 14-0 Smith con; 17-0 Smith pen; 17-5 Jordan try; 17-7 Jordan con; 22-7 Murley try; 24-7 Smith con.

Harlequins: T Green; N David, O Beard, B Waghorn, C Murley; M Smith, W Porter (D Care 61); F Baxter (W Jones 61), J Walker (S Riley 72), T Lamositele (S Kerrod 41), J Chisholm, S Lewies (J Launchbury 56), C Cunningham-South, J Kenningham (W Evans 64), A Dombrandt (T Lawday 74).

Glasgow: J McKay; S Cancelliere (B Afshar 57), H Jones, S McDowall, K Rowe; T Jordan (T Weir 72), J Dobie; R Sutherland (J Bhatti 57), J Matthews (G Hiddleston 57 (Matthews 62)), Z Fagerson (S Talakai 57), E Ferrie, S Cummings (A Samuel 10), M Fagerson, R Darge (H Venter 57), J Dempsey (G Brown 69).

Referee: Pierre Brousset (France).