Quins shun Twickenham move

Harlequins have confirmed they will not be moving their Heineken Cup quarter-final tie with Leinster from The Stoop to Twickenham.

The club attracted a crowd of 50,000 after switching their Guinness Premiership game against Leicester to the national stadium on December 27.

But despite the financial attractions of moving the match across the A316, Quins chief executive Mark Evans announced today the rugby arguments for remaining at The Stoop narrowly won the day.

“This was a very finely balanced decision,” he said.

“We will be giving up a significant amount of revenue by not transferring the game to the national stadium – a mere 400 yards away.

“In the current economic climate there was a good deal of pressure to relocate, particularly given the success of the ’Big Game’ against Leicester in December.

“Even more importantly, we know that many Quins fans will not be able to secure a ticket given that our allocation of 9,150 is lower than our average attendance.

“Nevertheless, we felt the majority of our core support wanted to remain at our traditional ground.

“Although the playing advantage linked to staying at the Stoop may be relatively small, so is the margin between success and failure at this level.”

As a result of remaining at The Stoop, Harlequins announced that ticket prices will have to be increased in order to minimise the financial shortfall.