In what has undoubtedly been a calamitous season for Harlequins to this point, the just criticism of the famous London club has been a lack of grit.
But in the same week they confirmed an underwhelming coaching team for the 2026/27 campaign, Jason Gilmore’s men rolled up their sleeves and at last displayed some backbone to record only their third PREM Rugby victory of the season. In the process, they showed there might be cause for future optimism at The Stoop. This was about as far away from a typical Harlequins display as you could get.
There was none of their usual attacking pizzazz. With star man Marcus Smith sunning himself on a Barbados beach as part of his mandatory post-Six Nations rest, Harlequins instead showed some substance to finally get back to winning ways.
Bristol, it must be said, were awful and this shock defeat on their ‘Big Day Out’ at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium was a hammer blow to their top-four hopes.
Pat Lam’s Bears were hassled and harried by their opponents, for whom back-rows Alex Dombrandt and Guido Petti stood out. It was fitting that captain Dombrandt won the breakdown penalty that allowed Harlequins to seal victory through Jamie Benson’s boot.
It was their first league success since October in what amounted to a huge upset.
‘We have gone through a really tough period,’ said Gilmore, who will head up Harlequins next season alongside Robbie Deans and Rob Hunter.
Harlequins finally showed some backbone in a surprising win over Bristol Bears in Cardiff
The Bears were awful and were dealt a hammer blow to their top four aspirations
‘We’ve copped it a bit and rightly so. That’s the nature of professional sport.’
Given Harlequins had been linked with some of rugby’s biggest names, their trio of appointments weren’t all-that-well received.
But if Gilmore can bring the sort of hard edge to Harlequins they showed here, then perhaps all is not lost. ‘I am proud and happy,’ the Australian added. ‘There is still a lot of work to be done to get us back on track, but I was happy with the fight and guts we showed.’
Gilmore admitted his men were out for revenge after being hammered 40-14 by Bristol at Twickenham in December. ‘A lot has been said in the last few weeks, but it will take more than that to break this group,’ said Dombrandt. ‘No-one gave us a chance, but this should keep some people quiet.’
Louis Rees-Zammit threatened for Bristol on occasion. But his team simply never got going. The Bears coughed up possession regularly at the breakdown, with Dombrandt and Petti putting them under pressure, and their line-out was awful. There were far too many errors. Their only positive was that Steven Luatua’s late effort ensured a losing bonus point. But in truth, they really needed to take five from this game to stay in the play-off hunt, not one. Dombrandt and Rodrigo Isgro scored away tries. Bristol captain Fitz Harding had opened the scoring after Dombrandt had an effort ruled out, but the Bears were beyond poor. After a fine start to the season, they’ve lost both their matches since the PREM’s return. Bristol defence coach Jordan Crane admitted his team now face a ‘hard’ route to finish in the top four and that their fate is now out of their hands.
‘The game was won and lost at the breakdown,’ Crane said. ‘And we didn’t win it.’