By AlanQuin
March 2 2009

A hard fought win, by a late try from Ugo Monye, elevated Harlequins to fourth place in the Premiership table and added another nail in Bristol’s relegation coffin.  Indeed the air of despair among the supporters and a half empty ground was obvious. But the desperate are often dangerous and Bristol played and fought like men trapped with their backs against a precipice...

and did so to good effect aided by some inconsistent refereeing from Chris White. 

Harlequins went on the attack from the start, but the attack led by Mike Brown ended in a penalty to the home side.  Then, after only three minutes, Bristol lost Adrian Jarvis to a leg injury that saw him later on crutches. Both teams were trying to play rugby but unforced errors blunted their attacks.  A good break from Strettle continued by Tom Williams ended with Arscott winning the race for the chip through..

Quins first chance of points came with a penalty about 40 metres out, but Malone failed to score.  Then, from a scrum on the twenty-two, Bristol launched an attack with Robinson making a fine break and creating an overlap on the left for Brew to cross for the try, the first Quins had conceded in over 300 minutes of play.  Barnes converted from the touchline to give the home side hope and a seven point lead.

It took only seven minutes before Quins were able to respond with their first score as another attack found Gary Botha on the right touchline and he brushed off the defence as he crossed in the corner for the try.  Malone’s conversion attempt failed.

The remainder of the half was uneventful as both sides grappled with the referee’s frequent interventions and a rather looser interpretation at the breakdown than usual.  At the scrum, the number of resets during the match was substantial.  Barnes had a long range attempt at a penalty without adding to the score.

In the second half Harlequins were playing down the slope and they also had the benefit of the wind. It was that somewhat fickle wind that aided them when Perry’s box-kick was caught by it, falling back into space and David Strettle streaked away to score in the right corner.  Malone was again unsuccessful with the conversion attempt, but Quins led by 7 – 10.

Malone’s long kicks for the corners kept Bristol pinned back but unforced errors continued and the penalty count against Quins began to rise with increasing frequency.  A good Bristol attack was defended stoutly and ended only by a penalty to Quins for crossing.  Then, after twenty-six minutes of the second half, Mr White lost his patience with the front rows and produced yellow cards for Darren Crompton and Ceri Jones. An injury to Mark Irish who also limped off brought about uncontested scrums for the remainder of the match.

Bristol mounted a further attack through the dangerous David Lemi and in the subsequent chase for the touchdown and with the ball bobbling about in the air he failed to touchdown.  However, on the advice of the assistant referee, Mr White awarded a penalty try, apparently for Lemi having been pushed attempting to score.  Barnes duly converted and with ten minutes remaining Bristol led 14 – 10

But Bristol could not hold on to that lead.  These days Harlequins live on the edge and do not give up easily.  So it was again that Quins kept the ball and went through the phases.  They kept up great pressure on the Bristol line and then moved the ball rapidly left where Monye was unmarked on the overlap and scored with only three minutes remaining.  Malone added the conversion.  Quins duly ran the clock down and had a fourth consecutive Premiership win 14 – 17.

After the match Dean Richards was rather more taciturn than usual. “I thought we showed a lot of endeavour in the first half and tried to play, but we didn't quite get the rub of the green. It became a very messy game. I will be looking very closely at the referee's decisions and consistency across the board," he said. “The disappointing thing was the way he didn't take charge of the scrummaging. 

Bristol: T. Arscott, Robinson, N. Brew, Eves, Lemi, Jarvis, Perry, Irish, Blaney, Crompton, Attwood, Budgett, R. Pennycook, El Abd, Ward-Smith, Thompson.
Replacements: Barnes for Jarvis (4), Winters for Attwood (47), Thompson for El Abd (67), To'oala for Thompson (77). Not Used: Regan, Thomas, N. Brew.

Harlequins: Tries: Botha, Strettle, Monye. Cons: Malone. Harlequins: Brown, Strettle, Tiesi, Turner-Hall, T. Williams, Malone, Gomarsall, Jones, Botha, Ross, Kohn, Robson, Robshaw, Skinner, Guest.
Replacements: Monye for T. Williams (65), Poluleuligaga for Gomarsall (73), McMillan for Ross (70), J. Evans for Kohn (61), Lambert for Robshaw (67). Not Used: Croall, Luveniyali.

Attendance: 5,005

Referee: Chris White (RFU).