Harlequins have crashed out of the European Rugby Champions Cup this afternoon, despite beating Castres 47-19 at the Stade Pierre-Antoine.
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The visitors needed to secure a bonus-point victory and hope that results elsewhere in Pool Two went their way, although Wasps' 20-20 draw against Leinster put paid to any lingering hopes to signal the end of their European ambitions for this campaign.
They managed to get off the mark inside 11 minutes when Joe Marler crossed over, although Antoine Dupont evened things up soon after to leave the game delicately poised.
Charlie Walker's try added some hope once more, though, providing a springboard for the Aviva Premiership outfit to push on from, but once more they were pegged back as Romain Cabannes found the whitewash to level at 14-14.
As the snow continued to fall in the South-West of France, Danny Care added a fifth try of the half right on the brink of the interval, just moments after Thomas Combezou had been shown a yellow, to ensure that Harlequins required just one more try to complete their side of the qualifying bargain.
A second-half blitz from John Kingston's men saw them rack up a further five tries, the first of which came via Jack Clifford to secure a valuable bonus point, before replacement Mark Lambert joined the party.
Castres, who have now lost all six of their pool-stage fixtures, appeared to drop their heads after a battling first-half display, meaning that when Nick Evans, the scorer of five conversions, played in Marland Yarde to cross over the match was officially over as a contest.
Johnnie Beattie did pull a try back for the French outfit with 14 minutes still to play, but George Lowe soon added a seventh for a Quins side who had given it their all.
All eyes were elsewhere for the remainder with Harlequins needing Leinster to produce some magic against Wasps, yet it was not to be, with the Wasps battling back to earn a draw to ensure that it is they who finish the group in second place.
Daniel Lewis
