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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Michael Aylwin at the Twickenham Stoop

David hat-trick dismantles Stormers to send Harlequins into Champions Cup last 16

Nick David clutches the ball after completing his hat-trick for Harlequins
Nick David clutches the ball after completing his hat-trick for Harlequins. Photograph: Warren Little/Getty Images

Harlequins back? Or is this latest outrageous twist in the story of their inconsistency a case of same old, same old? First, it needs to be acknowledged that this was a comprehensive dismantling of a side who had not lost a game this season. This was hardly the Stormers’ first team, but an unbeaten squad is an unbeaten squad. God knows, they are beaten now.

The notion that Harlequins are one of the Premiership’s whipping boys was made to look absurd as they strutted the turf of the Stoop with supreme confidence and aplomb. Try after try followed, a hat-trick for Nick David with consecutive tries either side of half-time. But the star performers were legion here. Their eighth try (of nine) on the hour opened up a 54‑0 lead. How far away seemed the past few weeks, in which they have conceded nigh-on 150 points in three Premiership matches.

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