Bristol Bears produced their best performance of the season on Friday night to leave Harlequins chasing shadows as they went down 48-24 at the Twickenham Stoop.
The Bears were razor sharp in attack as their clever running patterns and silky hands, combined to produce a lethal attacking display that Quins were unable to live with. Bristol scored six tries to record their ninth consecutive away win in the league to equal the Premiership record alongside Saracens, and did so with their eighth consecutive attacking bonus point to go top of the league with a brand of rugby to make the heart sing. There is no elite team on earth playing rugby like the Bears are right now, with the teams’ full commitment to Pat Lam’s adventurous ideology cleverly evident as they are regularly producing the best performances of his tenure.
With try scoring player of the match Gabriel Ibitoye prominent throughout, the visitors also touched down through Kalaveti Ravouvou, Kieran Marmion, Bill Mata, Benhard Janse van Rensburg and Santiago Grondona, and AJ MacGinty kicked 18 points on his return from international duty with the USA this Autumn.
Quins still bagged an attacking bonus points thanks to tries from Alex Dombrandt, Cadan Murley, Luke Northmore and Tyrone Green, with Jarrod Evans adding a pair of conversions, but a yellow card for Simon Kerrod shortly after half time proved the decisive moment of the match which cost retiring England star Joe Marler his dream send off.
Fellow England stars Ellis Genge, Harry Randall, Marcus Smith and Chandler Cunningham-South were missing having been on duty throughout the autumn, but their absence was barely felt on a thrilling night of high-quality rugby. Smith may have been missing but his replacement at fly-half Jarrod Evans adopted his understanding with Alex Dombrandt to set up an early try for the Quins number eight.
It was part of an exhilarating start to the game with Bristol setting the pace and after two dynamic attacks they struck with a third that began with a quickly taken line-out inside their own 22 and was finished by Kalaveti Ravouvou touching down on the opposite side of the pitch 90-metres down-field. The Bears pounced again three minutes later when scrum-half Kieran Marmion slipped between the tiniest of gaps down the blindside and fed Gabriel Ibitoye who sprinted over the whitewash.
Bristol’s high risk, high reward style was their undoing when Cadan Murley picked off a Marmion pass 5m from his own line to cross under the posts and they were breached again when Luke Northmore turned over Ravouvou and raced home from 65m out. A couple of forward passes put a dent in Quins’ ambition and as the interval approached the tempo of the match finally slowed – at least until Bristol went wide to Joe Owen who strode forward on his first Premiership star and with Ibitoye the intermediary, Marmion touched down.
The home side were dealt a double blow three minutes into the second-half when Simon Kerrod was shown a yellow card for deliberate offside. From a 5m tap penalty, the Bears launched a training park move with Harry Thacker and MacGinty pulling back passs allowing Bill Mata to round off a slick move.
When MacGinty added a penalty and Janse van Rensberg finished a move he started, Bristol led 38-17. Santiago Grondona was the next over for the rampant Bears and although Tyrone Green hit back for Harlequins, they had a mountain to climb if they were to reel in the visitors.
It proved to be the impossible task, particularly with Bristol cleverly taking the pace out of the game in the closing stages. Now the Bears turn their attention to the Champions Cup with Irish giants Leinster coming to the West Country next Sunday.
Harlequins: 15. Tyrone Green, 14. Rodrigo Isgro, 13. Oscar Beard, 12. Luke Northmore, 11. Cadan Murley, 10. Jarrod Evans, 9. Will Porter; 1. Joe Marler, 2. Jack Walker, 3. Simon Kerrod, 4. Joe Launchbury, 5. Dino Lamb, 6. Jack Kenningham, 7. Will Evans, 8. Alex Dombrandt (c)
Replacements: 16. Nathan Jibulu, 17. Fin Baxter, 18. Titi Lamositele, 19. George Hammond, 20. James Chisholm, 21. Danny Care, 22. Jamie Benson, 23. Nick David
Bristol Bears : 15. Rich Lane, 14. Jack Bates, 13. Kalaveti Ravouvou, 12. Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Kieran Marmion; 1. Jake Woolmore, 2. Gabriel Oghre, 3. Max Lahiff, 4. James Dun, 5. Joe Owen, 6. Santiago Grondona, 7. Fitz Harding (c), 8. Viliame Mata
Replacements: 16. Harry Thacker, 17. Yann Thomas, 18. Lovejoy Chawatama, 19. Steven Luatua, 20. Benjamin Grondona, 21. Oscar Lennon, 22. Joe Jenkins, 23. Benjamin Elizalde.
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant Referees: Joe James and Jamie Leahy
TMO: Stuart Terheege