Smith return fires up Quins for fresh miracle comeback
Att: 14,475
Lightning does not strike twice. That sentiment must have been searing through the minds of the Bristol players last night as they skipped gleefully into the changing room with a deserved 17-point halftime lead over Harlequins, their tormentors and conquerors in last season’s Premiership semi-final.
By the full-time whistle, however, lightning had not so much as struck twice as it had completely incinerated the Bears. After another of the most extraordinary comebacks in the history of the Premiership, Bristol’s players will be utterly sick to death of Harlequins.
Just as in June, when the hosts’ comeback against the Bears set them on the path to Premiership glory – that time from 28 points down – last night Harlequins’ second-half blitz resulted in 45 unanswered points, moving them to the summit of the table with a bonuspoint win.
What an occasion, too, to mark the return of Marcus Smith after Lions duty. The fly-half came on with his side trailing 21-0 after an injury to the in-form Tommy Allan, and his leading role in the resurgence cannot be overlooked. Smith bagged a wondrous chip-and-chase try at the death to put the cherry on the Harlequins eight-try cake but, alongside him, Alex Dombrandt and Joe Marler were sensational. So, too, Andre Esterhuizen, who gave one of the most titanic centre performances that this league has ever seen; even in the first half, with Harlequins on the back foot, Bristol struggled to contain him.
Despite the depressing deja vu and the unshakeable notion that Harlequins are the demons living in the Bears’ closet, the visitors did have heroes of their own. Harry Randall was their beating heart and Henry Purdy was supreme.
After the match, despite this being the worst start to a season in the Pat Lam era, Bristol’s director of rugby was as level-headed as ever.
“Rugby is a simple game and it’s about looking at what your roles are – it’s a team game,” Lam said. “We need 15 guys on the same page, doing their jobs well. We take the glory when we win games and we’ll take the hurt when we lose.”
Tabai Matson, Harlequins’ senior coach, paid tribute to Smith, Dombrandt and Louis Lynagh – among others – and stressed that the focus at the interval was energy. “Clearly the scoreline is a massive surprise. I wasn’t expecting it,” he said. “But I was expecting us to click a few more
times in attack, defend a bit more stoutly, and see what happened. At half-time, there was a confidence that, if we kept playing, we would take our opportunities. And we did.
“Marcus Smith in this system is exceptional. He is a real handful for the opposition, with a world-class skill set.”
Although Harlequins made the more purposeful start – Lynagh butchered a scoring pass so far for
ward to Dombrandt that the NFL, along with England, Australia and Italy, are now rumoured to be battling for his services – the hosts could not convert their early pressure into points.
Bristol’s three first-half tries were taken exquisitely and swiftly, and their 21-point lead was more than deserved after the hosts’ profligacy. The opener came from the jinking feet of Randall, who had Jake Kerr steaming past on his shoulder. The hooker was hauled down metres short, but Joe Joyce was on hand to finish.
No more than five minutes had passed before the visitors were at it again, with Purdy weaving inside and outside the home fringe defence to finish a first-class individual score. Charles Piutau’s close-range try capped the trio.
Harlequins, with Smith back conducting the orchestra, did manage to stop the rot before the interval, with semi-final hero Lynagh dotting down in the corner after Esterhuizen had carried like a fuel truck – empty or otherwise – through Bristol’s midfield defence. But Callum Sheedy’s penalty on the stroke of half-time ensured that the first half belonged firmly to the visitors.
But the second, again, belonged to Harlequins. Bristol, clearly petrified of a semi-final repeat, brought energy to the early stages, but after five minutes their tanks were empty. And Harlequins started the carnival.
Esterhuizen, causing chaos, linked up beautifully with Lynagh on the inside as Harlequins launched an attack from their own half, intertwining with Smith, who fed his wing to score his second.
With Bristol captain Jake Heenan in the sin-bin, Harlequins replacements Luke Northmore and Will Collier, Dombrandt – an interception – and full-back Tyrone Green added further tries to complete their great escape.
Incredulously, it was only their second-greatest of the year; incredulously, it was only their secondgreatest against Bristol.
Harlequins legend Chris Robshaw emerged at half-time, with his former side struggling, to salute the crowd after he moved on to pastures new during the behind-closeddoors period of Premiership rugby. Might he be available every week? For the rest of the league’s sake, let us hope not.