Kyle Sinckler scored the winning try against his former club with the last move of the match as the leaders overturned a 12-point deficit in the last eight minutes, the fifth time this season they have turned defeat to victory in the dying seconds.
When the two sides met on Boxing Day, Harlequins collapsed in the second half in what turned out to be the final knockings of Paul Gustard’s stint as head of rugby at the Stoop. They are a team transformed and, inspired by their scrum-half, Danny Care, who served a reminder to the watching Lions head coach, Warren Gatland, they looked to have stunned the Premiership leaders with a seventh Premiership victory in their last nine matches before Sinckler, whose first contribution after coming on as a replacement was to pass the ball to a post, had the final word.
Semi Radradra returned to the Bristol midfield for the first time since the end of January and made an immediate difference with his direct running and ability to slip a pass in contact. He set up his side’s third try after 31 minutes, standing at outside half from a scrum and taking out the Quins half-backs Danny Care and Marcus Smith before slipping an offload to Piers O’Conor as he fell to the ground.
Care and Smith had both earlier stripped the ball from the returning England back-rower Ben Earl, the former using the steal to score his side’s second try as Quins met Bristol thrust for thrust in a breathless opening period which started with 11 kicks out of hand in three minutes. Both sides were prepared to run from deep and the Bristol full-back Luke Morahan was adept at detecting space and exploiting it. Normally a wing, he revelled in the greater exposure and personified his side’s refusal to kick first and think later.
Bristol’s first try came after five minutes. Marcus Smith’s 40-metre penalty hit a post and when Dave Attwood picked up the ball, he put his head down and ran. Quick hands freed Dan Thomas and suddenly Bristol were in their opponents’ 22 where a fortunate bounce off Earl saw Attwood finish off the move he started. Quins’ response was immediate. They used a succession of penalties to engineer driving mauls from line-outs and eventually the second row Dino Lamb was shoved over the line only for Earl to prevent him grounding the ball. Bristol’s relief did not survive a review: Earl was sent to the sin-bin for entering the maul from the side and a penalty try was awarded.
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By the time Earl returned, Bristol were ahead, Andy Uren and Byan Byrne combined from a line-out to set up Fitz Harding, who had just replaced Steven Luatua, but Quins drew level after the restart when Uren’s pass to Earl was taken by the No 8 on the bounce and Care pounced. Care, whose second half drop goal gave Quins the lead for the first time, and another England old boy, Joe Marler, who was penalised for a tip-tackle on Radradra, were on view for Gatland, although it was a chance for him to take in the overlooked Marcus Smith and Alex Dombrandt.
Smith’s first penalty after O’Conor’s try cut Bristol’s interval lead to four points and within 14 minutes of the restart Quins were ahead through another Smith penalty and Care’s drop goal as Bristol continued to waste line breaks by conceding penalties under pressure at the breakdown. Harlequins looked to have sealed victory when Care’s flat pass to André Esterhuizen from a line-out broke the defence and gave Joe Marchant a run-in and Smith kicked his third penalty, but Bristol were awarded a penalty try when Dan Thomas was held up short of the line by Marchant who was sent to the sin-bin for side entry.
There were five minutes to go and Quins were looking comfortable holding on. Having won the penalty count handsomely, they infringed twice in as many minutes, giving Bristol a final chance. They drove a maul from a line-out and Sinckler was ruled to have touched the ball down on the line, leaving Callum Sheedy with a conversion from wide on the right to win the match. Which he did.