Small, small margins and big, big hearts. That’s what it took for the Bears to get their first Premiership win since late September and finally purge the painful memory of the 2021 semi-final defeat. In abject conditions and away from home it was a victory borne out of festive grit rather than Christmas cheer with a second-half rearguard action that dug deep. Really deep.
It wasn’t pretty but it was pulsating. The Bears set their stall out early with a rejuvenated Semi Radrada bulldozing through the midfield and bouncing the unfortunate Will Evans back to the home dressing room off his prodigious Fijian thigh bone. It was a nasty looking head injury and we all wish him a swift recovery but if any of the Quins fans had been expecting a walk over then this suggested otherwise.
