Harlequins must forget pride and rest up, says Nick Easter

Nick Easter believes Harlequins should rest some of their players in their Heineken Cup match with Cardiff Blues despite facing the prospect of an embarrassing European whitewash.

Yesterday's 33-21 defeat to Toulouse means Quins have lost all five of their pool games with
only the Cardiff clash at the Twickenham Stoop to come.

Easter says it is vital Quins now prioritize other competitions with LV Cup matches against London Irish and Gloucester following on successive weekends.

"What is more important than finishing with a whitewash in Europe is the Anglo-Welsh competition," said the England No8.

"Then we're back into Premiership action and they are the tournaments we are still involved in. We have to manage our squad which isn't the biggest and that is important — we have to look at the bigger picture.

"There isn't a break for us so we have to make sure we are fired up for the Anglo-Welsh games. It's a crucial time of the season."

Quins got off to a flying start at the Stade Ernest Wallon courtesy of Mike Brown's 23rd-minute try.

But the three-time European champions roared back and clinched a place in the quarter-finals following scores by Florian Fritz, Jean Bouilhou, Cedric Heymans and Maxime Medard to leave Ugo Monye's fine second-half double worthless.