Marcus Smith brushes off sin-binning to shine as Harlequins impound Vannes

Marcus Smith shrugged off a first half sin bin to help Harlequins to a 57-19 bonus point win over Vannes in Pool Three of the European Challenge Cup.

England back Smith totalled 22 points from two tries and six conversions, despite enduring a spell on the sidelines for a deliberate knock-on.

It was a much-needed dominant display from the home side, who managed to shrug off their winless start to the new Gallagher Prem campaign.

Quins were 26-14 up at the interval with Cadan Murley scoring twice and Smith and Will Hobson also crossing the line while the visitors responded through Wayan De Benedittis and winger Enzo Benmegal.

Benmegal reduced the deficit with his second just after the interval but the home side never really looked in danger of surrendering their advantage and further tries from Sam Riley and Smith again had them home and dry by the hour mark.

Fixture

Challenge Cup

Harlequins

57 - 19

Full-time

Vannes

All Stats and Data

With the pressure off Quins stepped up their quest for a bonus point and it arrived via three more tries in the final 15 minutes, a brace from Will Evans sandwiching one from Jimmy Staples.

Harlequins: 15 George Furbank; 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Luke Northmore (Tyrone Green 70), 12 Bryn Bradley, 11 Cadan Murley (c); 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Lucas Friday (Will Porter 61); 1 Will Hobson (Harry Johnson-Holmes 57), 2 Sam Riley (Jimmy Staples 49), 3 Ollie Streeter (Pedro Delgado 45), 4 James Dun (Elliot Williams 57), 5 Kieran Treadwell (Harry Browne 57), 6 Guido Petti, 7 Seb Driscoll (Will Evans 49), 8 Lucas Schmid.

RC Vannes: 15 Joe Jonas (Robin Gicquel 62); 14 Paul Bard, 13 Marin Boulier, 12 Inia Tabuavou (Robin Taccola 50), 11 Enzo Benmegal; 10 Jean Cotarmanac’h, 9 Simione Kuruvoli (Mikheil Alania 55); 1 Wayan de Benedittis (Hugo Djehi 50), 2 Theo Beziat (Hayam El Bibouji 50), 3 Santiago Medrano (Simon Bourgeois 67), 4 Thomas Ployet, 5 Matteo Desjeux, 6 Bautista Pedemonte, 7 Steeve Blanc-Mappaz (c) (Jesse Stegenhuis 62), 8 Rudi Brown (Basile Paul 50).