As Marcus Smith lined up the 77th‑minute conversion that would almost certainly have lifted Harlequins into the quarter-finals there was no one watching, including Montpellier’s director of rugby Philippe Saint-André, who imagined he would miss. Smith had barely put a foot wrong, there was scarcely a hint of wind in the sun-drenched stadium and the kick was nicely angled for a right-footed kicker.
Alas poor Smith, previously outstanding in almost every respect. The ball was close enough to the left upright for sections of the home crowd to raise their arms aloft but the flags stayed down and that was that. A thrilling, see-sawing contest had pretty much everything but from Quins’s perspective it will be remembered as the one that got away.
