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Harlequins matchwinners Marcus Smith and Alex Dombrandt were acclaimed by senior coach Tabai Matson after inspiring another thrilling comeback win over Bristol.
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Four months after overturning a 28-0 deficit to win last season’s Gallagher Premiership semi-final at Ashton Gate, the champions rallied from the setback of leaking three early tries to prevail 52-24.
Smith replaced the injured Tommy Allan in the second quarter and celebrated his first appearance after a summer when he won his first England caps and played for the British and Irish Lions by pulling the strings in the eight-try rout at Twickenham Stoop.
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And every bit as influential was Dombrandt, whose second-half try was the highlight of an all-court display that will have impressed Eddie Jones as the Red Rose boss looks for a replacement for Billy Vunipola at number eight.
“Marcus Smith in this system is exceptional. Any time he gets into his groove he not only creates opportunities but is a real handful for the opposition,” Matson said.
“The try he scored on the chip through shows a world-class skill set. He was a little bit rusty on some of his kicks, but this was his first game back so you expect that.
“I wouldn’t say Alex is unique, but he’s rare as a loose forward. He’s very skilled. His anticipation of where the line breaks are going to be means that he can put the hammer down 10 seconds earlier in his support lines and assists.
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“He’s so skilful. He’s playing really well. I thought he played exceptionally well. Defensively he was bloody good and got a couple of key turnovers.”
Quins trailed 24-7 at half-time and the size of their eventual win barely looked possible after being run ragged by the speed and width of Bristol’s early onslaught.
“Clearly the scoreline is a massive surprise… I wasn’t expecting it. But I was expecting us to click a few more times in attack, defend a bit more stoutly and see what happened,” Matson said.
“At half-time, there was a confidence that, if we kept playing, we would take our opportunities. And we did.”
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Bristol have lost three of their opening four games, but director of rugby Pat Lam is refusing to panic.
“Rugby is a simple game and it’s about looking at what your roles are,” he said. “It’s a team game. We need 15 guys on the same page, doing their jobs well.
“We take the glory when we win games and we’ll take the hurt when we lose the game.”
