Bristol thrash Quins to spoil Marler's farewell
Gallagher Premiership
Harlequins (17) 24
Tries: Dombrandt, Murley, Northmore, Green Cons: Evans 2
Bristol (21) 48
Tries: Ravouvou, Ibitoye, Marmion, Mata, Van Rensburg, Grondona Cons: MacGinty 6 Pens: MacGinty 2
Bristol Bears hammered Harlequins with a stylish display to go top of the Premiership as the retiring Joe Marler bowed out at The Stoop with defeat.
The Bears edged a frenetic, seesaw first half 21-17, through Kavaleti Ravouvou, Gabriel Ibitoye and Kieran Marmion scores, with Alex Dombrandt, Cadan Murley and Luke Northmore replying.
Vialiame Mata's debut try extended the lead, and after ex-England prop Marler was replaced, Bernhard Janse van Rensburg and Santiago Grondona added two quick scores to take Bears 28 points clear.
Tyrone Green's try cut the gap, but AJ MacGinty extended his perfect evening with the boot, kicking a penalty to take his tally to 18 points and cap an impressive win.
Marler's farewell may have dominated the pre-match build-up, but Bristol did their best to steal the headlines with a rampant display which, perhaps, underlines their Premiership title credentials.
A ninth successive Premiership win on the road - stretching back to last December - sent them four points clear of Bath, who host Exeter in their game in hand on Saturday, while Quins stay fifth after a fourth defeat of the season.
Quins set the tone for a breathless and scintillating first 40 minutes when a slick passing move ended with skipper Dombrandt scorching away down the right touchline.
But Bears roared back with an outstanding score, running the ball from a lineout deep in their 22, and going coast to coast, with Ravouvou racing in.
Marmion sent Quins old boy Ibitoye away for his sixth try of the campaign to open a 14-5 lead and the Bears were threatening a third score when Murley returned an interception the length of the pitch.
The hosts then hit the front when Northmore stripped the ball from Ravouvou and sprinted 50 metres to the line.
But in a back-and-forth half, Bears took a lead into the break when Joe Owen’s burst down the left fed Ibitoye who returned the favour and gave Marmion a clear run to the line.
Having had his Bears debut delayed by a pre-season injury, Fijian back-row Mata strolled under the posts from a well-worked tap penalty after Simon Kerrod was sent to the bin for intentional offside.
The Bears fed off the energy of Marler's farewell ovation as the impressive Janse van Rensburg started and finished a fifth Bears try.
And, two minutes later, Grondona went over in the left corner for another try of the season contender as the Bears continued to attack from all over the pitch.
Green's breakaway score just after the hour hinted at a repeat of the 2021 Premiership semi-final when Quins fought back from 28-0 down against the Bears to win.
But with both sides finally - and understandably - tiring, that proved the end of the comeback trail.
Marler bows out with Stoop farewell
Marler announced his decision to retire just 48 hours before his farewell appearance, but may have wished for different opponents for his goodbye to Quins fans after 16 seasons.
The 34-year-old prop was replaced by Fin Baxter after 48 sapping minutes, disappearing straight down the tunnel after taking a standing ovation at the end of his 286th appearance for the London side.
Farewell or no farewell, the two-time Premiership winner played his final game as he did his previous 285, in typically combative mode, even earning a quiet first-half talking-to from referee Luke Pearce.
Marler may have had tongue in cheek in asking Pearce if he would be shown the yellow card for removing his shirt when Quins scored again.
The referee said "not tonight", but unfortunately, the 95-times capped England international would not get the opportunity.
Display at Stoop 'huge' for Bears - reaction
Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol:
"That was huge. We talked about trying to lift the mood of English rugby and the Premiership and we showed the way that you can play the game.
"It might look easy but there’s a lot of work and commitment to make that happen. We wanted to play at a tempo and just play our game and the boys did that.
"We were really calm at half-time. I told the boys 'we've given them two tries and we've scored some good tries, let's keep trying to make them uncomfortable, keep bringing the tempo up and play our game'."
Harlequins: Green; Isgro, Beard, Northmore, Murley; Evans, Porter; Marler, Walker, Kerrod, Launchbury, Lamb, Kenningham, Evans, Dombrandt (c).
Replacements: Jibulu, Baxter, Lamostiele, Hammond, Chisholm, Care, Benson, David.
Sin-bin: Kerrod (43).
Bristol: Lane; Bates, Ravouvou, Janse van Rensburg, Ibitoye; MacGinty, Marmion; Woolmore, Oghre, Lahiff, Dun, Owen, Grondona, Harding (c), Mata.
Replacements: Thacker, Thomas, Chawatama, Luatua, Grondona, Lennon, Jenkins, Elizalde.
Referee: Luke Pearce
