The Cubs slipped to a 38-31 defeat away to Harlequins at Gordon’s School in a pulsating Academy U18 League clash.
A Caspar Reeves hat-trick as well as a brace of tries for Evan Morris ensured that Bristol used the width effectively to earn a crucial couple of bonus points on the road.
After a cagey opening few minutes, Quins settled into the game first, racing into a 12-0 lead midway through the first half.
However, the Cubs fought back valiantly with Reeves speeding to the try line for his first of the afternoon, following a turnover on the halfway line cutting the score to 12-5.
Reeves first try gave the match a surge of life, with the hosts replying quickly before the Bristol winger bagged his second.
From first phase, Ollie Harris received the ball with space in front of him where he connected with Reeves who carried the ball through his opposite man to cross the whitewash.
Bruno Lamb smashed the conversion to cut the point deficit to seven points with just over two minutes to play in the half.
Despite only having a short duration of time remaining, both sides managed to add tries to the score board before the interval.
Quins snatched the first in the 34th minute, using their powerful driving maul to push the ball over before Morris replied with the Cubs third try.
Inside centre, Lamb, was the creator as he threw a dummy to fly through the visitor’s defence before passing inside to his centre partner who dotted the ball down between the posts. Lamb followed up with the conversion to make the half time score 24-19.
The Cubs started the second period as they finished the first – by scoring a converted try, to give them the lead for the first time in the match.
Frey Lant ran a dominant carry from a lineout overthrow to put his side onto the front foot.
The ball was then spun wide to Reeves who ran around the Quins defence to score his third try and make the score 26-24.
Two tries for Quins allowed them to retake the lead as the score grew to 38-26 before the Bristol fightback began.
A piece of magic from George Williams created the fifth try as he offloaded the ball to put Reeves and Morris in behind the Quins defence.
With the ball in his hands, Reeves sped towards the Harlequins full back before passing to Morris who had an easy run in for his second try.
Just over ten minutes remained in the game, with the score locked at 38-31 as Bristol applied pressure on Quins for a prolonged period.
The hosts defence remained solid however as they held on until the final whistle.
Report: Harlequins U17’s 66-17 Bristol Bears U17’s
Bristol Bears U17s suffered a 66-21 defeat the hands of a powerful Quins outfit on the day.
Michael Whittaker, Joe Edwards and Ned Hill all got on the score sheet as they faced off against an impressive side.
Quins opened the scoring early in the half, gaining a 5-0 lead yet Bristol replied quickly with Whittaker evening the score at 5-5.
The Cubs ran several dominant carries in the Harlequins red zone, working towards the try line before the number eight crashed over and Regan Halse kicked the conversion.
Behind for the first time in the match, Quins showed their class scoring three unanswered tries in the remainder of the first period to make the score at the interval 26-7.
The London based side continued their dominance into the second half, scoring another four tries to increase their advantage to 52-7 with just over 15 minutes of the match remaining.
Directly from the kick off following the Quins score, the Cubs turned the ball over and spun it wide to Edwards who dotted down in the corner to score his side’s second five pointer.
The hosts scored two more tries in the game, either side of Hill’s effort in the latter stage of the match.
The blindside flanker capitalised on a collapsed maul to grab his consolatory try, running a hard line to crash over as his side were beaten 66-17.
