Harlequins 26-30 Cardiff

Cardiff face an all-Welsh Heineken Cup quarter-final clash against Llanelli after defeating Harlequins in a tense clash at the Stoop.

After storming into a 20-point lead, Cardiff allowed Quins to fight back and in an edgy second half, the visiting fans were made to wait until the closing seconds to discover their European fate.

With two tries in as many minutes Cardiff soared into the lead.

The first, a highly controversial penalty try, was awarded after Liam Botham was tackled well on the line by Jamie Williams.

The outcome should have been a Quins scrum, after Botham knocked the ball on. But, despite TV replays showing the tackle had not been high, Cardiff were awarded the five points.

Welsh international hero Neil Jenkins converted and, seconds later, notched up another two points after full-back Rhys Williams dived over on the left for Cardiff's second.

It was a textbook try after some superb build-up play from the pack and the visitors deserved every point of their 14-0 lead.

In the scrum, Cardiff proved supreme and despite a number of forays into the visitors half, Quins looked unable to hang onto the ball for any period of time.

Dan Baugh was unlucky not to have been awarded a try on 33 minutes after driving over from line-out, but the pass from hooker Jonathan Humphries was judged to have gone forward.

With just three minutes of the half to go, fly-half Jenkins added another three points to push Cardiff's unanswered lead up to 20.

Quins fightback

But Quins hit back with a long range try, thanks to an interception from David Officer who fed out for Darren O'Leary to touch down.

Harlequins continued to notch up points after the break, with Gareth Rees adding a much-needed early penalty after Cardiff were caught offside.

In a complete reverse of the opening half, Quins began to dominate completely and after a sublime period of sustained play, Jason Keyter grubber kicked forward to touch down and bring the home side back within three points.

Any thoughts Cardiff had of sitting on their lead had quickly evaporated, especially when Rees added a second penalty to tie the scores at 20-20.

It was a remarkable recovery from Quins.

Cardiff were then unlucky not to have been awarded a try when Humphries appeared to touch over after a Rob Howley cross-kick.

But Zinzan Brooke's side were far from finished and Rees pushed Quins into the lead for the first time in the game with fifteen minutes to go.

It was make or break time for the Welsh club and they replied immediately through wing Nick Walne, after a tremendous period of driving play from the pack.

Jenkins' conversion made it 23-27 and set up a thrilling finale to the match.

With 10 minutes to go, Rees brought the scores back within one point with another penalty, before hitting the post with a second.

Had it gone over Quins would surely have taken the points.

Instead, Jenkins replied successfully on the stroke of time to seal the match and book a mouth-watering quarter-final clash against the Scarlets.