Premiership: Bristol Bears beat Harlequins for third successive league win

Bristol Bears and Harlequins both went into their meeting having won two and lost one in the Premiership

Bristol Bears fought back to record their first Premiership win at Harlequins since 2001.

Quins soaked up plenty of first-half pressure to counter with three Marcus Smith penalties, before Bristol responded through a Dan Thomas try.

Steve Luatua then crashed over from four yards to put Bears 12-9 up.

Scrum-half Harry Randall darted over and Niyi Adeolokun raced away for the bonus point, before Smith claimed a consolation score for Quins.

The hosts, who has conceded 70 points in successive European Champions Cup defeats by Munster and Racing 92, saw little of the ball in a frantic first half-hour. But they repelled the pressure, with Nathan Hughes held up over the line, and were clinical when chances came their way via Smith's boot.

Stray passes and poor handling often undid much of Bristol's good work in the first half, Semi Radradra spurning a golden chance - on his first appearance of the season - when knocking on from Ioan Lloyd's fine break and offload.

But, after Wilco Louw was denied his first Quins try when his close-range effort was ruled out by the video referee, the Bears registered the opening try just before the break, fittingly against the run of play, as Thomas raced away to cross in the corner.

Heartened by the score, Bears found their cutting edge after the break. Randall twice showed quick thought and action with his tap-penalty to tee up Luatua's score and then his finish following Hughes' break.

Bristol's sustained assault on the Quins line was held up, but then came the clinching try, with Randall again involved, as Luatua's improvised pop pass sent Adeolokun racing away to confirm a third win in four Premiership games.

Smith completed his good day on a personal level when he stepped through the Bristol defence for a last-gasp score, but it was too little, too late to avoid a third successive defeat for Quins in all competitions.

Harlequins head of rugby Paul Gustard:

"On the back of a really poor performance last week, we asked the team to show a big physical response and we saw that.

"The big turning point was just before half time. We get turned over in the corner and, 10, 12, 15 phases later, they score. Instead of being 16-0 up, we're only 9-5 at half-time. Then a cheap score at the start of the second half and we invite pressure on ourselves.

"For all the hard work, it seemed like a bit of a kick in the balls. There were some steps in the right direction and, for the most part, we defended well but, when we switch off and make errors, we get punished and we're too easy to score against."

Bristol Bears boss Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol:

"It was a simple choice (at half-time) - fellas, if you want to keep playing like that as individuals you might as well get back on the bus and go back and have Christmas, or if you want to play the Bears way, make sure we start playing as a team because we were just 15 individuals out there.

"It was frustrating to watch, but fair play to the boys, they were more like the Bears in the second half and we came home strong.

"Last week we were ahead (at half-time) but not playing well and the week before we were horrific so it's something we're going through. We know it's something we will address and we can fix."

Harlequins: Brown; Lynagh, Lang, Tapuai, R Chisholm; Smith, Care; Els, Baldwin, Louw, Lamb, Young, J Chisholm, Evans, Dombrandt (capt).

Replacements: Elia, Garcia Botta, Kerrod, Tizard, Lawday, Landajo, Anyanwu, Green.

Bristol Bears: Malins; Naulago, Radradra, O'Conor, Lloyd; Sheedy, Randall; Thomas, Capon, Afoa, Attwood, Holmes, Luatua (capt), Thomas, Hughes.

Replacements: Byrne, Woolmore, Lahiff, Joyce, Heenan, Uren, Leiua, Adeolokun.

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