18.07 – Harlequins 3-0 Connacht: Ben Botica gives the English side the lead with a straightforward penalty.

Harlequins have dominated the opening stages and the lead is consequently no more than they deserve.

18.21 – Connacht 13-9 Harlequins: Ben Botica kicks another penalty, before Dan Parks produces an excellently judged kick to make it 13-9.

It’s been all about the two kickers so far, neither of whom have put a foot wrong.

18.25 – Great break by Kieran Marmion, but his pass is just behind Tiernan O’Halloran, and the attack eventually comes to a halt.

18.29 – Connacht 16-9 Harlequins: Connacht are rewarded after some sustained pressure, following another excellent break by Marmion, and they eventually earn a penalty, which Parks kicks.

Connacht have been very impressive so far, with Marmion in particular catching the eye.

18.41 – 19-14: Harlequins get a much-needed try, as Danny Care exposes a gap in the Connacht defence and runs over.

Botica misses the conversion, much to the delight of the home crowd.

19.01 – So at half-time, Eric Elwood will be disappointed that his side seemingly failed to maintain the intensity of their performance throughout the opening 40 minutes.

Some very good rugby was marred by some elementary errors and lax defending in the final few minutes, which saw Harlequins score 15 points, having coming from being 19-9 down.

Conor O’Shea, meanwhile, will be satisfied that his side have refused to panic, sticking to their gameplan – and they were eventually rewarded for their persistence.

19.15 – Connacht have made 98 tackles according to Sky’s statisticians.

They’re certainly having to defend doggedly, though a number of mistakes are beginning to creep into the visitors’ game, as they perhaps grow frustrated at Connacht’s increasingly impressive defence.

19.25 – While the second half has been low on scores, this has still easily one of the best games of the competition so far.

There’s very few stoppages and each side has, at times, played some excellent rugby.

19.29 – Harlequins 30-22 Connacht: Botica shows his class by kicking yet another successful penalty. They’re hardly missing Nick Evans at all right now.

Interestingly, Connacht have had 59% of the possession in the second half, yet they’ve failed to make it count.

19.36 – Declan Kidney has just been shown by the Sky cameras.

He’ll have surely have been quite impressed with the likes of Marmion and McCarthy.

19.56 – So a valiant effort from Connacht, but in truth, it was a well-deserved victory for Harlequins.

The hosts put an awful lot into the opening half an hour of the game, and consequently, failed to maintain such intensity for the remainder of the contest.

Harlequins, meanwhile, justified their status as one of the favourites to win this competition.

Conor O’Shea’s men were clinical in attack when they needed to be, and rarely looked like giving up their lead once they went ahead, controlling the game with a palpable confidence to their play for most of the second half.