Harlequins had found one way to escape the foul weather at home during the week. They travelled 6,000 miles to Cape Town, swapping Strawberry Hill for Table Mountain and a game played in sweltering 30-degree heat in a majestic stadium.
Quins, led by Danny Care, were game opponents but a Stormers side with its all-Springbok front row, were always going to have a power game that would be difficult to cope with even after a week of acclimatisation in the sun and it is the Stormers who will meet the winners of Sunday’s match between Exeter and Montpellier.
After the earlier dismantling of Munster by the Sharks, the South African sides have the air of guests who have been invited to the European party only to make off with all the booze.
The Stormers had already recorded emphatic wins over London Irish and Clermont at the DHL Stadium in the pool stages and Quins soon discovered that this citadel would be hard to storm.