Points machine Paul Burke steered Harlequins to an impressive Heineken Cup victory as Bridgend's tournament debut fell flat at the Brewery Field.

Burke, a key figure during Quins' victorious European Shield campaign last season, scored 20 points from a try, three penalties and three conversions.

His performance underpinned a priceless pool four away win which gave Quins the best possible start in pursuit of a quarter-final place.

England wing Dan Luger and flanker Tu Tamarua also touched down to thwart Bridgend's spirited challenge.

Full-back Adrian Durston and Bridgend's Lions wing Dafydd James grabbed tries for the home side with fly-half Cerith Rees booting 14 points, yet Quins were never seriously in danger of losing.

They had to endure a testing few final minutes when flanker Pat Sanderson was sin-binned by French referee Joel Dume for killing possession just two minutes after going on as a substitute, but their victory was thoroughly deserved.

England centre Will Greenwood, who had been tipped to make his comeback from injury tonight, did not feature in the starting line-up or among Quins' substitutes and he could now return against Munster next Saturday.

Rees kicked Bridgend into an 11th-minute lead, yet Quins responded immediately following typical opportunism from hooker Keith Wood.

The Ireland captain hacked possession on from the restart and when Bridgend struggled to clear Burke emerged from a pile of bodies with the ball.

He converted his own try, then kicked a penalty, but two more Rees strikes meant Bridgend were firmly in contention at just 10-9 midway through the second quarter.

That was when Quins stepped up a gear though and 10 unanswered points gave them a 20-9 interval advantage.

Scrum-half Scott Bemand broke decisively from behind his forwards' heels, and although he could probably have made the Bridgend line himself, he fed a scoring pass to Tamarua.

Burke's conversion and another penalty gave Bridgend a mountain to climb, but they threatened a revival when the outstanding Durston capitalised on skipper Huw Harries' clever kick into space.

That score brought Bridgend back to within six points before Burke and Rees exchanged further penalties. Luger then collected what was the decisive score, rounding off a slick three-quarter move to touch down wide out.

Bridgend coach Dennis John made several substitutions in an attempt to rescue the game - Wales flanker Nathan Budgett among those who went on - but James' 79th-minute touchdown which Rees improved came just too late to make a difference.