Danny Wilson confident Harlequins can swiftly bounce back from painful defeat to Toulouse

Quins went into the Champions Cup match on a high but were put to the sword on home soil
Marcus Smith was unable to inspire Harlequins to victory over Toulouse
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Nick Purewal18 December 2023

Danny Wilson has urged Harlequins not to let their Champions Cup loss to Toulouse dent their overall confidence. 

Antoine Dupont and Thomas Ramos ran the show as five-time Champions Cup winners Toulouse taught Quins a lesson in Sunday’s 47-19 win at The Stoop. 

Harlequins ran out of steam after a tough run of fixtures comprising recent landmark wins over Premiership leaders Sale and Top 14-topping Racing 92. 

Quins will now return to league matters by making the trip to face Bath on Saturday, before hosting Gloucester at Twickenham for the Big Game fixture on December 30. 

And Quins boss Wilson has called on the west Londoners not to lose momentum in the face of a frustrating defeat. 

Antoine Dupont was typically impressive for Toulouse
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“We've played some really good stuff recently, and we can’t let this game become anything that leads us to any kind of drop in terms of our standards or confidence,” said Wilson. 

“So we’ll make sure we stay focused on building and moving forward this week, as we move back into the Premiership. 

“We played the top four of the Premiership on the bounce, week on week, in which time we beat leaders Sale. Then we went to Paris and beat Racing. 

“When we were down on the scoreboard against Toulouse, we started to get really loose. 

“I understand the mindset to chase the game but the risk against a team like Toulouse, with that firepower that they have, is that if you’re not accurate then you will be picked off. 

“They are one of the best teams on turnover ball and they put us to the sword. We went away from our usual standard and we’ve got to get that back now.” 

Thomas Ramos was among the try-scorers for the French side
PA

Quins leaked seven tries despite registering three of their own, and will be intent on hitting back to winning ways as the league swings back into action. 

That 31-28 win in Paris over Racing at least leaves Quins still in Champions Cup contention ahead of the final pool stage games next month. 

Quins lost lock Dino Lamb to a head injury against Toulouse, and Cadan Murley to a foot problem. Both players will be assessed this week, though neither will be likely to be ready for the trip to Bath. 

“Dino seems okay, he was up and talking at half-time of the game,” said Wilson. 

“He’s been playing very well recently so he will be a big miss. 

“And it’s a frustrating one for Cadan, because he has not long come back from injury himself. He had played very well for us in the last two games. 

"We tried to keep him out there, he tried to play through it, but in the end that couldn’t happen. Hopefully it’s nothing major but he’ll have a scan and we’ll have to wait a little while to find out.”

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