Harlequins score 10 tries in thrashing of Bayonne

Investec Champions Cup Pool Three

Harlequins (28) 68

Tries: Murley, Treadwell 2, Baxter, Delgado, Porter 2, Riley 2, Benson Cons: Smith 9

Bayonne (7) 14

Tries: Paulos, Spring Cons: Spring 2

Harlequins scored 10 tries in a convincing 68-14 Investec Champions Cup win against Bayonne at Twickenham Stoop.

Quins backed up their creditable showing at Leinster, where they took a try bonus point from a 45-28 defeat, with their first win of this season's pool phase.

They struggled for rhythm early on but the floodgates opened once captain Cadan Murley collected Marcus Smith's low kick to score.

Kieran Treadwell, who had just come off the bench for injured lock Stephan Lewies, quickly added a second before front-row duo Fin Baxter and Pedro Delgado crossed to wrap up a bonus point by half-time.

Scrum-half Will Porter and replacement hooker Sam Riley both touched down twice in the second half, while Jamie Benson and Treadwell rounded off the scoring.

England fly-half Smith landed nine of his 10 conversion attempts for a personal tally of 18 points and showed his creative class by making Quins' first two tries with smart kicks.

After setting up Murley for the opener, Smith sent a fine crossfield effort into the hands of the advancing Treadwell on the left wing for the second.

The hosts scored 14 points either side of half-time while Quins flanker Will Evans was in the sin bin, having been yellow-carded for an infringement at the breakdown in the build-up to Lucas Paulos' try for Bayonne.

Bayonne's penalty count crept up in the second period, leading to a short spell when they had 13 men on the field.

Harlequins kept piling on the points and Benson crossed for the pick of their second-half tries, brilliantly dummying his way past the last defender to score.

Despite seeing their side well beaten on the field, the travelling Bayonne supporters were determined to enjoy themselves - they formed a conga line in the stand in the closing minutes, with the home fans clapping along to their efforts.

Harlequins senior coach Jason Gilmore on Marcus Smith's performance:

"He is such a talented player but we can't lump everything on him. Marcus plays best when everyone else does their job really well.

"The boys are pushing that within the leadership. Everyone's got to an eight out of 10 and that allows our best players to do their thing.

"He's picked up three man-of-the-match awards in a short space of time. When he's done that, the team has played well."

Quins captain Cadan Murley:

"The thing with Marcus is he enjoys it all being on him. He wants to be the general, that's why he wants to be the 10.

"He showed out there what he can do in terms of putting the little kicks through. It's all about trying to get the best out of him.

"He will lump pressure on himself but ultimately we want to take away some of that responsibility as leaders."

Fly-half Smith told Premier Sports:

"It's obviously nice to come back home after that shift last week, where the lads played with a lot of guts.

"We're making strides and we talked about getting back here in front of our friends and family and putting on a show. We've got to keep building and working hard and that will give us a lot of confidence.

"It's nice to get our attacking game back on the park. It was a bit tetchy at the start and not as accurate as we'd like, but 68 points today with lots of attacking shape - that was nice."

Harlequins, eighth in the Prem, host Bristol in their next league fixture on Saturday, 20 December (18:00 GMT).

That match will be played at Allianz Stadium, rather than their usual Twickenham Stoop home.

Their remaining Champions Cup pool fixtures are a home game against unbeaten URC leaders Stormers (11 January, 2026), followed by a trip to La Rochelle seven days later to conclude the group phase.

Harlequins: David; Cleaves, Beard, Northmore, Murley (capt); Smith, Porter; Baxter, Walker, Delgado, Petti, Lewies, Kenningham, Evans, Carr.

Replacements: Riley, Wenger, Hobson, Treadwell, Cunningham-South, Friday, Benson, Waghorn.

Bayonne: Orabe; Thompson, Maqala, Mori, Hannoun; Spring, Tilloles; Calles, Martin, Setiano, Garcia Iandolino, Paulos, Fischer (capt), Capilla, Ariceta.

Replacements: Giudicelli, Cormenier, Fepulea'i, Heguy, Marchesin, Traversier, Jantjies, Boyle-Tiatia.

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

Assistant referees: Andrew Cole (Ireland) and Jonny Erskine (Ireland)

TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)