Dusautoir at a loss to explain poor start

The French side were lucky to have found themselves only 14 points adrift at the interval and had to dig deep to find a way to keep their Pool 5 campaign on track.

We started really badly and we couldn't get into the game. We kept making mistakes because they put us under pressure," said Dusautoir.

"I can't explain what happened to us in those first 40 minutes. Sometimes things simply don't go right for you.

"We said a few things at half-time and started to find the strength and moral resources to come back. We then began to get our hands on the ball and got some go forward."

It took two tries in the first eight minutes of the second half for Toulouse to get back on level terms, but Quins still forced them to come from behind again in a fantastic finale.

"The rolling maul that got us the try was very important to us because it got us back to 14-14," he added.

"At the start of the game we found that Quins were playing with much more speed - they were a length ahead of us in getting around the field and getting to the ball.

"Against Sale Sharks we played well for the first 50 minutes. This time it was for the last 50."