Bristol moved into the Premiership play-off positions after subduing
Harlequins in a poor match packed with errors at the Memorial Stadium.
Scotland A prop Paul Johnstone scored the only try as Bristol jumped two
places from ninth to seventh, moving above Gloucester and Sale.
With the top eight Premiership finishers contesting this season's inaugural
Zurich Championship play-offs, they look well placed for that end-of-season
competition.
Bristol made hard work of it, though, leading 13-3 after 28 minutes but then
failing to trouble the scorers again.
Quins clawed their way back to four points adrift, yet fly-half Paul Burke's
three penalty failures and general error-strewn approach work in attack cost
them dearly.
England star Will Greenwood, having recovered from a bruised shoulder
sustained in the Six Nations against Wales, captained Quins as they targeted a
first Premiership away win for 13 months.
Greenwood's fellow internationals - England colleague Jason Leonard and
Ireland captain Keith Wood - featured among the replacements after playing twice
in three days last week.
Bristol were unchanged following their narrow midweek defeat at Leicester and
went into the game buoyed by wing Luke Nabaro signing a new two-year contract.
Burke missed an early penalty chance. But Bristol looked far more cohesive as
captain Agustin Pichot, number eight Matt Salter and full-back Lee Best all went
agonisingly close to scoring.
The solitary try arrived on 15 minutes when ball-catcher Salter was driven
rapidly from a line-out and Johnstone touched down underneath a pile of bodies.
Fly-half Felipe Contepomi converted and then booted a 40-metre penalty after
Greenwood slotted a short-range drop goal to restore Bristol's seven-point
advantage.
Bristol old boy Burke's radar remained wayward on his Memorial Stadium return,
and he sliced a penalty attempt following another Contepomi three-pointer.
Just when Burke looked as if he might make amends by ghosting through
Bristol's defence his potential try-scoring pass to centre Nick Burrows was
spilled with the home defence all at sea.
His confidence drained, Burke completed a hat-trick of penalty failures during
injury time - and Quins trooped off 10 points adrift.
Bristol continued to play most of the rugby, Pichot combining superbly with
his fellow Argentine Eduardo Simone - but Quins scampered back and cleared the
danger.
Wood made a 53rd-minute arrival, and Leonard rapidly followed suit as Quins
looked to make an overdue impression on proceedings.
Burke eventually found the target at his fourth attempt, and when Contepomi
missed an easy penalty Bristol suddenly found themselves on the back foot.
Wood sparked an impressive forward surge which Bristol only just resisted, and
they escaped lightly after a spell of Quins pressure when full-back Ryan O'Neill
wastefully attempted a drop goal and sent it wide.
Burke completed the scoring on 79 minutes as Bristol never threatened to
regain their first-half momentum.
Better sides than Quins would have punished them, but Bristol deserved a
hard-earned victory that Pichot's brilliance briefly illuminated.
Zurich man-of-the-match: Agustin Pichot (Bristol).
Teams
Bristol: Best, Nabaro, Simone,
Mayer, S. Brown, Contepomi,
Pichot, Johnstone, McCarthy, Crompton, Archer, A. Brown,
C. Short, Vander, Salter.
Replacements: Sheridan for Archer (55).
Not Used: Williams, Fullman, Sturnham, Baber, Reeves, Marsden.
Tries: Johnstone.
Cons: Contepomi.
Pens: Contepomi 2.
Harlequins: O'Neill, Greenstock, Greenwood, Burrows, Gollings,
Burke, M. Powell, Starr, Fuga, Olver, Morgan, White-Cooper,
Jenkins, Sanderson, Winters.
Replacements: Daniel for Burrows (59), Leonard for Starr (56),
Wood for Fuga (53).
Not Used: Richards, Chalmers, Codling, Jones.
Pens: Burke 2.
Drop Goals: Greenwood.
Att: 4,600
Ref: Chris White (RFU).
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