Harlequins’ Cadan Murley embodies team belief before Saracens semi-final

If ever there is a team who specialise in making their own luck it is Harlequins. The question is whether the Houdinis of English club rugby can once again conjure enough of it to ensure another stirring chapter in their eventful modern history. Because if Saracens go 28-0 up in the first half of Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership semi-final, as Bristol famously did at the same stage last year, a magical comeback is simply not going to happen.

It does not require a genius, either, to sense how motivated Saracens are to re-enter the winners’ circle after three years of tumult. Which puts the onus on the defending champions to respond accordingly: all the usual crowd-pleasing tricks and sleight of hand but allied to the consistent control and bristling physicality that the best sides display. An acid test of the champions’ mettle, in other words, is coming over the hill.

Which makes it all the more interesting to listen to Quins’ players this week and to detect not an ounce of fear or trepidation. Talk, for example, to the club’s recentlycrowned player of the season, Cadan Murley, and the inner confidence in the Quins’ dressing room feels almost tangible. “We believe we can go back to back and that’s the most exciting thing,” insists the 22-year-old, almost matter-of-factly. “That belief is still there.”

The power of positive thinking is clearly still fuelling pretty much everything Quins do. Murley shares a house in Guildford with the England fly-half Marcus Smith and tells a revealing story about his friend’s demeanour prior to last year’s final against Exeter Chiefs. “I remember we were leaving the house for the final and Marcus saying: ‘Today’s going to be a good day. I can feel it.’ Then he went out and won it. On game