Quins shock Bath with comeback

Greenwood's appearance made the difference

Harlequins 24-22 Bath

Harlequins turned Premiership form on its head by staging a thrilling second-half fightback to stun Bath at The Stoop.

Quins, a mammoth 27 points behind Bath before kick-off, trailed 16-5 early in the second period.

But the appearance of England centre Will Greenwood as a 57th-minute substitute made a significant difference, and fly-half Paul Burke's short-range penalty five minutes from time destroyed Bath's hopes of moving second behind champions-elect Leicester.

Matt Perry, England's forgotten man, kicked 17 points for the visitors and wing Tom Boyce scored a well-worked 47th-minute try, but Quins dug deep when it really mattered.

From that 11-point deficit, Burke booted a quickfire penalty hat-trick to bring Quins back into contention, and although Perry nudged Bath further ahead, Greenwood struck at a critical time.

Bath fly-half Mike Catt rifled an attempted defensive clearance straight at his England team-mates, and Greenwood required no second invitation to sprint over.

Forgettable first half

Burke converted, and although Perry immediately slotted his fifth penalty thanks to the continued fussy interference of referee Ashley Rowden, Burke came up trumps and confirmed an unlikely success.

Bath were unable to impose their free-flowing attacking adventure on proceedings, the likes of Catt and Iain Balshaw making little impact on an afternoon when defences dominated.

A forgettable first half briefly flickered into life when Quins wing Daren O'Leary sprinted over for a 21st-minute touchdown, but two penalties from Perry ensured that Bath ground out a totally forgettable 6-5 advantage.

When England Under-21 international Boyce scorched across shortly after the restart, it looked a safe bet that Bath would pull away and justify the colossal Premiership gulf between the clubs.

However, Quins are made of stern stuff these days under astute coaching direction offered by Bath old boy Richard Hill and Mark Evans, and with Burke landing five kicks at goal from six attempts, their opponents could never enter the comfort zone.

After Greenwood's arrival, Quins' confidence grew by the minute, and there was nothing Bath could do to stave off a result upset.

Lost self-belief

Quins' victory, their second Premiership success in five days following a midweek victory at Newcastle, gives them an outside chance of making the play-offs.

Bath, though, missed a gilt-edged opportunity of overtaking Northampton in second spot, but they could have few complaints after making so many an expected and unforced errors.

Bath coach Jon Callard offered no excuses after the defeat.

"We didn't play very well - there were too many unforced errors, and that is disappointing," Callard said.

"We couldn't keep the ball for more than two phases at a time, and to be honest, we should have been dead and buried by half-time, but someone was smiling on us from above.

"We need to get our self-belief back. Our performance today was nothing like what we produce when we play at home - we went into our shells."

Quins coach Mark Evans with his side's change in fortunes.

"There is a very small margin between success and failure in this League and we are now winning close games that we were losing earlier in the season," he said.

"To play twice in five days is very difficult, both mentally and physically, and I thought that in the first half we went through the motions.

"But there were a few words said during the interval and the second half saw us play with a lot more desire and urgency."