Bristol climbed to second place in the record after overcoming a Christmas hangover in the first half to convict Harlequins to a fifth straight home loss.
Quins led 9-0 with less than a minute left in the first half after trading largely on Bristol’s willingness to run from their own half despite players working on it. different waves. Two of Marcus Smith’s three penalties followed after Bristol’s players were caught in an outfield area and the home side were unfortunate that an attempt was denied to prop Wilco Louw to despite saying he founded the ball.
Just as Bristol expected the half-time words of their head coach Pat Lam, who seemed to have more Scrooge than Santa, Dan Thomas and Steven Luatua exchanged passes after a ruck and Thomas finished on the left wing from 25 meters.
The rest of the game belonged to Bristol. Luatua took the lead four minutes after the restart after the penalty quickly awarded by Harry Randall and the scrum then halved after Nathan Hughes, who had missed an early opportunity from close range, go through Smith and leave the outside hanging on.
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Smith had been more balanced with his fourth penalty, but with Bristol not alone in communication, they had to run from their own half and found themselves further and further behind. winning line. Their only solace was the shield display of Louis Lynagh, the son of the former Australian outside Michael, who followed a low hard tackle on Max Malins with three sniper runs. The misfortune of the home team was that Lynagh, who was making his first Premier League, was marginal to the action rather than middle.
Quins remains an enigma, without a home win this season but boasting two bonus point wins along the way. They are not a reactive side and once the new Niyi Adelokun wing had gained a Bristol bonus point, they ran on to a Luatua pass and immediately accelerated from the cover before entering. for Mike Brown, they didn’t even have a bonus point for running. Smith’s late effort was no consolation.