Desperation and effort, as so often is the case in sport, proved the key ingredient to Bristol Bears’ gritty 15-12 win over Harlequins at The Stoop.
With two minutes remaining, having been under the pump for almost the entire second half, monstrous South African centre Andre Esterhuizen - who had been practically unstoppable all game - was galloping home for the match-winning try following a blistering break from replacement Oscar Beard. But Bristol’s rearguard thought differently with AJ MacGinty felling the giant with a single finger as his tap tackle tangled the Springbok’s feet.
Still his momentum was taking Esterhuizen over the tryline only for Tom Whiteley to come out of nowhere and knock it out of his grasp inches from the whitewash which was fading into the turf under the downpour in West London.
On such moments are first away wins of the season, barring the now-expunged win away at relegated Wasps, earned.
Another boost is the four match points take Bristol off bottom of the standings to 10th and send Bath bottom following their narrow defeat to Exeter Chiefs on Christmas Eve.
READ MORE: Harlequins 12-15 Bristol Bears LIVE: All the reaction from a gritty win at The Stoop
Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam said: “It was a gutsy game from us. We have be working away behind the scenes on our game and I think it sums it up that the rain didn’t bother us today because we have been working on areas of our game that needed attention; on our defence, close contact stuff, chasing, our work off the ball - because to get that right it only requires attitude and application, not quality.
"We know we have got an ability to play a certain type of game but this is four games we haven’t lost and as I have been saying we are a better team now than what we were.”
Bristol helped dispel their reputation as slow starters with the first three scores in the wet at The Stoop.
With 82,000 Twickenham Stadium, peering out of the night sky in the distance, where this game was meant to be played before rail strikes forced the festive occasion to be downscaled, AJ MacGinty landed the first points of the game with a penalty right in front of the posts after three minutes.
Having disrupted Harlequins’ lineout brilliantly in the early stages the Bears hit back with their own after 15 minutes as Harry Thacker threw to Chris Vui and got the ball back at the back of a dynamic ball to be fired over the tryline. MacGinty added the extras.
But Quins hit back moments later with a trademark champagne rugby try with Andre Esterhuizen blasting through the middle before a brilliant offload off the deck from Joe Marchant put Josh Bassett in space to bump off the attempted tackle from Luke Morahan - in his final game for the club - and slide over in the wet.
Quins fly-half Tommy Allan was off the mark with his conversion attempt.
Gabriel Ibitoye - playing on his first return to The Stoop since leaving as a prodigy - scored a minute before the break. Attacking off a lineout on the 22 the Bears got the ball out to the backs who pulled it back deep to avoid the home defence and brought Luke Morahan around on the loop to be the extra man - the former Wallaby sprayed a pass to Ibitoye on the wing who stepped in off the left touchline to wrong-foot four Harlequins defenders and power over.
MacGinty’s conversion struck the upright to make it 5-15 at the break.
Bristol’s would not score again and spent almost the entire second half taking body blows from Harlequins.
Bristol’s historic tormentor Danny Care looked to have struck eight minutes into the second half by Ibitoye saved what looked like a certain try.
He denied England scrum half by dragging his leg into touch nanoseconds before he could dot the ball down and a minute before the break he finished a fine strike move.
Ten minutes later and there was no denying Care’s creativity as he got up from a slip to put in a pin-point perfect cross-field kick to Cadan Murley who took the ball on the full, stepped Thacker and again brushed off Morahan. Allan added the extras.
Despite multiple chances in the final quarter, and Bristol losing Ibitoye to a yellow card for a high tackle on Esterhuizen with four minutes remaining, the Bears held out for a much-enjoyed victory in the coaching box which exploded in celebration at the final whistle.
Harlequins: 15. Nick David, 14. Cadan Murley, 13. Joe Marchant, 12. Andre Esterhuizen, 11. Josh Bassett, 10. Tommy Allan, 9. Danny Care; 1. Joe Marler, 2. Jack Walker, 3. Wilco Louw, 4. George Hammond, 5. Irne Herbst, 6. Archie White, 7. Will Evans, 8. Alex Dombrandt
Replacements: 16. George Head, 17. Fin Baxter, 18. Simon Kerrod, 19. Charlie Matthews, 20. Tom Lawday, 21. Lewis Gjaltema, 22. Will Edwards, 23. Oscar Bear
Bristol Bears: 15. Rich Lane, 14. Luke Morahan, 13. Semi Radradra, 12. Sam Bedlow, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Andy Uren; 1. Yann Thomas, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. Max Lahiff, 4. Joe Batley, 5. Chris Vui, 6. Steven Luatua (c), 7. Jake Heenan, 8. Magnus Bradbury.
Replacements: 16. Jake Kerr, 17. Jake Woolmore, 18. Jay Tyack, 19. Elliott Stooke, 20. Dan Thomas, 21. Tom Whiteley, 22. Piers O’Conor, 23. Ioan Lloyd.
Referee : Karl Dickson (68th Premiership game)
Assistant Referees: Sara Cox and Simon Harding
TMO: Stuart Terheegee
Citing Officer: John Byett
