Greenwood back on Tiger beat

England centre Will Greenwood knows more than most what it is that Harlequins have to do if they want to reach a cup final for the fifth time in their history.

After playing well enough to beat a disappointing and disconsolate Northampton 11-6 at The Stoop on Saturday, Quins were drawn at home to Greenwood's old club, Leicester, in the semi-finals in the New Year.

He left the Tigers only last summer and admitted that he will not be able to avoid his former club-mates over the Christmas holidays.

'There will be some banter between us and I have no doubt that I will bump into them at some stage over Christmas because my girlfriend Caroline is from Leicester and I will probably try to get the odd day up there. I am extremely good friends with Paddy Howard (Leicester's Australian centre and coach).

'Without telling each other what both teams are going to do, I am sure there will be a bit of chat about things.'

It is no secret, though, after this performance that Harlequins will have to work far harder if they are to beat the Tigers and advance to the final.

Quins coach Richard Hill said: 'We had a tight game against Leicester in the league a couple of weeks ago and we lost, even though they were without their better players.

'This performance was nowhere near where we want to be. There is a lot to do technically and of course there is also going to be a psychological block against Leicester.'

Quins had the pleasure of scoring the only try of the match on Saturday through lock Steve White-Cooper.

However, John Steele, Northampton's director of rugby, would have been happier if his team had chosen to kick a couple of first-half penalties, instead of tapping the ball and looking for touch.

Steele said: 'They represented a possible six points and we only lost by five.'