Bristol fight back to take maximum at Harlequins

Adam Kyriacou
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Captain Steven Luatua inspired Bristol Bears to a 27-19 victory at Harlequins in the Premiership as they came from behind at the Twickenham Stoop.

The former New Zealand international’s try gave the Bears the lead for the first time, after an earlier break from him had helped drag them back into the picture following a difficult first half.

Quins led 9-0 approaching the break but they rarely got out of their own half after it, as Bristol ultimately scored four tries in recording their third league win in a row.

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Fijian centre Semi Radradra was making his first Premiership start of the season for Bristol, while winger Louis Lynagh – son of Australia great Michael Lynagh – was making his full league debut for Harlequins.

It was Quins who claimed the game’s first points through a penalty from Marcus Smith and he then doubled his side’s advantage to 6-0 with another effort from the tee after 18 minutes.

It was a much better defensive showing from the hosts in the first half than in their Champions Cup thrashing at the hands of Racing 92 last week – they certainly had the air of a side that were keen to restore pride.

They were further ahead following Smith’s third penalty in the first 25 minutes before Wilco Louw came within a TMO decision of scoring, with replays unable to prove any grounding had taken place.

Bristol then roared back into the game with the final play of the first half when Luatua broke clear off Dan Thomas’ pass before giving the ball back for his fellow back-rower to score.

Callum Sheedy’s missed conversion left the Bears a 9-5 deficit to try to recover from after half-time, something they took just five minutes to achieve.

It came after Harry Randall caught Quins napping, as the scrum-half took a tapped penalty before passing to give Luatua an easy run-in from a few metres out, with Sheedy adding the extras.

Smith momentarily levelled the match with his fourth penalty, but Sheedy quickly restored Bristol’s lead with a kick of his own before missing the chance to extend it from long range just a few minutes later.

But the Bears scored their third try after 56 minutes following a strong carry from Nathan Hughes, as Randall picked up from a ruck and sped through a gap with Harlequins’ defence no longer looking as sharp.

The visitors then bagged the bonus point with 13 minutes left when the outstanding Luatua’s off-load sent Niyi Adeolokun scampering clear down the left.

Smith, who scored all Harlequins’ points, kept plugging away until the last and his lovely solo effort down the right wing off the final play gave the hosts a consolation try.

Another win for league leaders Exeter

Exeter bounced back from the outbreak of coronavirus that had swept through Sandy Park to maintain their perfect start to their Premiership title defence with a 28-20 victory over Gloucester.

The disruption caused by the spread of Covid-19, forcing the cancellation of their Champions Cup match against Toulouse a week earlier, was evident in a laboured first half.

But inspired by the Simmonds brothers, the double winners ignited to deliver a fourth-successive bonus-point victory and equal the previous best start to a season registered by Saracens in 2018/19.

Number eight Sam Simmonds lifted his try tally for the Premiership campaign to eight with a pair of touchdowns that underpinned the second-half surge, but his brother Joe Simmonds was equally influential at fly-half.

Joe Simmonds completed all four conversions to finish with eight points and the Chiefs captain also went desperately close to scoring a try.

A lively crowd of 2,000 fans also saw Jonny Gray and Ollie Devoto cross either side of the interval as Exeter established a clear lead at the summit of the Premiership.

Gloucester’s finest moments were inspired by replacement scrum-half Tony Venner, whose league debut in the second half brought with it urgency in attack.

Elsewhere, Northampton Saints finally ended their Franklin’s Gardens losing streak in their last game of 2020 as they beat Worcester Warriors 29-10.

Dan Biggar was in the thick of the action, scoring one try, setting up another for Alex Mitchell and also finding himself in the sin-bin.

And Northampton, who had previously lost all eight Premiership home games in 2020 and who had not won anywhere since beating London Irish at The Stoop in August, finished the job with Mike Haywood pocketing a late bonus-point score.

A penalty try had set the Saints on their way and Mitchell’s finish from a fine breakaway gave them a 17-7 half-time lead, with Billy Searle having scored and converted for Worcester.

Searle notched a penalty after the break but Northampton pushed on and Biggar returned from the sin-bin to score before Haywood ensured it was a maximum haul.

Bristol