Bristol hopes dashed by late Harlequins try

Full-time: Bristol 14 Harlequins 17: Ugo Monye's late try denied Bristol what would have been a morale-boosting Guinness Premiership victory at the Memorial Stadium, writes Steve Cotton.

A converted penalty try, awarded after David Lemi was pulled back when he looked set to go over, had given Bristol a 14-10 lead late in the day.

But replacement Monye crossed in the dying minutes to leave Bristol 12 points adrift of Worcester at the foot of the table.

The home side, who went into the match 13 points adrift of eleventh-placed Worcester, went in front through a Neil Brew try, which was converted by Ed Barnes.

Quins hit back through hooker Gary Botha's score, but Bristol shaded the opening 40 minutes and deserved their 7-5 half-time lead.

Bristol were forced into an early change when fly-half Adrian Jarvis, playing against his former club, was on the receiving end of a late tackle and hobbled off.

Chris Malone sent a 40-metre penalty off target for the visitors, before Brew opened the scoring on 20 minutes.

Bristol went wide off a scrum, with Lemi and Lee Robinson testing the Quins defence, before switching play to the other side through Luke Eves, David Blaney and Brew, who went over.

It was the first try Quins had conceded in more than 300 minutes of Premiership rugby – and when replacement Barnes landed the conversion, Bristol led 7-0.

The visitors hit back on 29 minutes through hooker Botha. Tom Arscott called a mark and kicked downfield, but Quins returned the kick, with Andy Gomarsall sending Botha in from 15 metres to score.

Malone failed with the conversion, before Barnes missed a penalty for Bristol, and the hosts went into the break with a slender lead.

That was wiped out two minutes into the second period when Quins capitalised on Perry's handling error on the 22, countering through Gomarsall, Malone and Strettle to take the lead.

Bristol showed enterprise in the Quins 22, but a promising move came to an end when they were penalised for crossing.

Bristol prop Darren Crompton and Quins prop Ceri Jones were yellow-carded following a front-row kerfuffle – and Bristol soon took the lead.

Quins kicked away possession, Lemi ran it back – and after kicking ahead, the Samoan was pulled back as he prepared to strike and referee Chris White awarded a penalty try.

Barnes' conversion made it 14-10 – but the visitors roared back, and after chipping away at the Bristol line with a series of phases, they eventually moved it wide to Monye, who went over to win the game.

Bristol: T Arscott; L Robinson, Neil Brew, L Eves, D Lemi; A Jarvis (E Barnes 4), S Perry; M Irish (W Thompson 72), D Blaney, D Crompton (A To'oala 80), D Attwood (R Winters 48), N Budgett, R Pennycook, J El Abd (capt; W Thompson 69-72), D Ward-Smith. Reps not used: M Regan, H Thomas, Nathan Brew.

Scorers: Tries – Neil Brew, penalty. Cons – Barnes (2).

Sin-binned: Crompton (68-80).

Harlequins: M Brown; D Strettle, G Tiesi, J Turner-Hall, T Williams (U Monye 66); C Malone, A Gomarsall (J Poluleuligaga 79); C Jones, G Botha, M Ross, O Kohn (J Evans 62), G Robson, C Robshaw (M Lambert 69), W Skinner (capt), T Guest (N McMillan 74). Reps not used: A Croall, W Luveniyali.

Scorers: Tries – Botha, Strettle, Monye. Con – Malone.

Sin-binned: Jones (68-80)

Ref: C White. Att: 5,005.