Harlequins 50 Crusaders 22: Harlequins overcome emotions to triumph

The Londoners have been in mourning since the news broke that captain Rob Purdham's brother Garry was one of the victims of the Cumbria shootings last week.

And McDermott admitted after yesterday's contest that it had not been the easiest of weeks to prepare.

He said: "It has been really tough. But everybody at the club realised that we have a job to do.

"Out of respect for Rob himself we could not start to feel sorry for ourselves and let what has happened affect things.

"It would have been wrong for us to go out there and be anxious or tentative, even though it has been a horrible few days."

It did not take long for the hosts to get into their stride, Luke Dorn getting his name on the scoresheet after cashing in on a David Howell break.

Shortly afterwards, Chris Melling took a superb pass from Danny Orr in his stride to crash over at the sticks as Quins took control.

The visitors were having plenty of the ball, but were lacking a real cutting edge, and were punished again on 25 minutes when Dorn claimed his second after more work from Melling.

The Crusaders grabbed a try of their own when Clinton Schifcofske neatly claimed his own grubber through to score, but Luke Gale booted a penalty on the hooter to give Quins a healthy lead.

It was more of the same after the break, as Gale scorched through to take a Tony Clubb pass moments after the restart.

The hosts stretched even further ahead when Howell raced clear, running onto a Dorn pass to touch down. There was still some fight in the Welsh side, and Jason Chan muscled his way over to cut the deficit.

But any thoughts of a revival were quickly snuffed out as Dorn added his third and fourth tries and 17-year-old debutant Olsi Krasniqi pounced for a further score. Crusaders did score late tries through Peter Lupton and Rhys Hanbury, but by then it was mere consolation.

Harlequins RL: Dorn, O'Callaghan, Clubb, Howell, Sharp, Gale, Randall, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Orr, Wilkes, Williamson, Temata, Melling. Substitutes: Ward, Esders, Ellis, Krasniqi.

Crusaders RL: Schifcofske, Thomas, Dyer, Mellars, Youngquest, Witt, Hanbury, O'Hara, Withers, Bryant, Chan, Hauraki, Lupton. Substitutes: Winternstein, Peek, James, Flower.

Referee: B Thaler (Wakefield).