European Cup record

Quins’ first quarter-final appearance came in 1996-97, their maiden European campaign, when they were beaten 23-13 at Leicester Tigers. A second last-eight encounter came the following season, this time ending in a 51-10 thrashing at Stade Toulousain. 2009 was the closest they have got to the semi-finals, with eventual winners Leinster Rugby pipping them 6-5 at Twickenham Stoop. Their fourth quarter-final defeat came at Munster Rugby in 2013, when they lost 18-12.

Last season

Heineken Champions Cup pool stage losses at Munster Rugby (21-7) and then at home to Racing 92 (49-7) saw Quins drop into the Challenge Cup. A Round of 16 clash at home to Ulster Rugby saw them leak eight tries, with a 57-21 defeat completing a difficult European season.

Head coach

Tabai Matson took over as head coach in July, having led several teams in the Southern Hemisphere - including Fiji and New Zealand U20s - either side of a spell in charge of Bath Rugby in 2016-17. Featuring for both Fiji and the All Blacks as a centre, Matson played domestically in New Zealand and Japan, with a three-year venture in European rugby seeing him turn out for CA Brive and then London Irish.

Key players

Quins’ front row features vastly experienced international props Joe Marler (England) and Santiago Garcia Botta (Argentina), while Alex Dombrandt is an important figure in the back row. Scrum-half Danny Care is an 84-time England international and partners British and Irish Lions fly-half Marcus Smith, one of rugby’s most exciting young talents. New additions for this season include Scotland centre Huw Jones and Italy fly-half Tommy Allan.

Pool fixtures

Drawn in Pool B, Quins’ opening game sees them travel to Castres Olympique on December 12, before home and away fixtures against Cardiff Rugby on December 18 and January 14 respectively. Their final pool stage game is a home clash with Castres on January 21.

We continue our previews of this season’s Heineken Champions Cup sides by taking a look at four-time quarter-finalists Harlequins.