Harlequins remain at the foot of the Premiership table in spite of a brave
effort at the Memorial Stadium where 10 tries were scored as both sides picked
up a scoring bonus point.
Bristol scrum-half Agustin Pichot and lock Garath Archer returned following
injury in a side that included full-back Jamie Williams, having been released by
Quins at Christmas. Lock Andrew Sheridan moved to blindside flanker.
Harlequins make three changes to the team that defeated Newcastle Falcons
33-19 last time out with Dan Luger returning on the left wing, Ace Tiatia at
openside flanker and Nick Greenstock in the centre,
The visitors were denied an early try when centre Will Greenwood chipped
across field for Tony Diprose out wide on the right but he was tackled by
Bristol's loosehead prop Paul Johnstone and Quins knocked-on as skipper Keith
Wood took the ball over the line.
But Bristol were the first on the scoresheet as number eight Ben Sturnham made
a break before feeding England A centre Phil Christophers. He raced 25 metres to
score under the posts with fly-half Felipe Contepomi adding the conversion.
Quins fly-half Paul Burke, playing against one of his former clubs, landed a
45m penalty and for the Argentine international to cancel it out with his first
penalty of the afternoon from 30m.
Burke missed a second attempt from closer to the left touchline before Bristol
increased their lead on the half-hour as the Pumas half-back pairing of Pichot
and Contepomi linked up for Contepomi to convert his own touchdown.
Quins reduced the arrears on the stroke of half-time, working the ball across
field from a ruck on the right. They stretched the home defence for
inside-centre Nick Greenstock to score out wide on the left but Burke missed his
conversion to trail 17-8 at the break.
Greenstock then barged through for his second try, after England loosehead
prop Jason Leonard was held up short of the line, with Burke adding the
conversion from in front of the posts.
Bristol were still to get into their stride in the second half with Contepomi
failing to land a 22m penalty after Quins were reduced to 14 men when lock Steve
White-Cooper was yellow-carded for taking Archer's leg away at the line-out.
The visitors finally broke through a seemingly solid Quins defence after
Pichot and centre Andy Higgins had been held up on the line with Sheridan
powering over for Bristol's third try of the afternoon.
Higgins, the England Under-21 centre, finally got his reward as he rode two
tackles to earn Bristol a bonus point for their fourth try with Contepomi
converting. Christophers then sent replacement full-back Lee Best away on the
halfway line for Bristol's next score.
Best sent Ben Gollings the wrong way on his way to the line before
Christophers scored his second try, again sending Gollings the wrong way.
Contepomi converted both.
Quick ball allowed Wood, the Quins skipper, to score in the corner followed by
a penalty try, converted by Burke to gain the visitors a try-scoring bonus point
but their escape route from relegation will only grow harder.
Teams:
Bristol: Williams, Rees, Higgins, Little,
Christophers,
Contepomi, Pichot, Johnstone, McCarthy, White, Archer,
A. Brown, Sheridan, Lipman, Sturnham, Drahm.
Replacements: Best for Williams (47), Drahm for Little (77),
E. Bergamaschi for Johnstone (40), Nelson for McCarthy (63),
Short for Sheridan (69), C. Morgan for Drahm (80).
Not Used: Blake.
Tries: Christophers 2, Contepomi, Sheridan, Higgins,
Best.
Cons: Contepomi 5.
Pens: Contepomi.
Harlequins: Gollings, Jewell, Greenwood, Greenstock, Luger,
Burke, Duncombe, Leonard, Wood, Olver, Codling, White-Cooper,
Winters, Tiatia, Diprose, Morgan.
Replacements: M. Powell for Duncombe (69),
Morgan for Leonard (64), Sheriff for Tiatia (70),
White-Cooper for Morgan (69).
Not Used: Fuga, Starr, Mapletoft, Moore.
Tries: Greenstock 2, Wood.
Cons: Burke 2.
Pens: Burke.
Sin Bin: White-Cooper (53).
Att: 5,618
Ref: Tony Spreadbury (RFU).
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