Harlequins' run of good form continued with a 28-15 bonus-point win at the Memorial Stadium yesterday, their fifth victory in six games. It lifted them above Sale Sharks into fourth place and play-off territory, although Dean Richards, their director of rugby, was wary of eulogising about a young side with an average age of only 24.

Bristol had beaten Harlequins twice in the Heineken Cup in December, but Richard Hill, their head coach, believed that the London club had little to play for then. “There was more riding on it today for them, with Heineken Cup qualification and a top-four place at stake,” Hill said. “They had more incentive and we were a bit flat. All through this season, when we have played two good games, we have a s*** third one. We'd just played two good ones.”

With a strong wind behind them in the first half, Bristol needed to take full advantage. They dominated possession and territory before half-time, but were held to 8-8. Hill revealed that the Harlequins players went into the dressing-room cheering, clearly thinking they had the game won.

It was Harlequins who scored first, when Danny Care burst over the gain-line and offloaded to Tom Guest, who released Charlie Amesbury in space. The young left wing shrugged off Tom Arscott's tackle to touch down close to the posts.

Bristol immediately responded with a penalty goal by Ed Barnes and took the lead with a well-worked try. Shaun Perry's swift pass found David Lemi, who had ghosted from the left wing to the right half of the field. Lemi fed Tom Arscott, who went over in the corner.

After Adrian Jarvis had brought Harlequins level with a penalty into the wind, Barnes missed two very kickable attempts at goal in the last ten minutes of the first half that would have given Bristol a six-point cushion. “That would have given us confidence,” Hill said, “but one try wasn't good enough for that first half.” Part of the problem was the home side's lineout, which was generally poor and gave away possession several times when Bristol were in a potentially good attacking position.

The Bristol forwards did well to fashion a penalty try early in the second half, when David Rose, the referee, had already warned the Harlequins scrum for twice collapsing a maul. A third offence left him with no option. Jarvis had already been sent to the sin-bin after repeated Harlequins transgressions.

Three tries from the visiting team in the last quarter, when they controlled the match, gave them a double over Bristol in the Guinness Premiership this season. Mike Brown went over in the corner after Jarvis's deft kick had been well taken by Amesbury, who made good ground after slipping through Tom Arscott's tackle.

Amesbury capped a fine match when he and Brown worked well together to set up another try, this time for Gary Botha, the replacement hooker. The game was already safe when Jason Strange's pass in midfield was intercepted by George Robson, who showed good pace for a lock to flee the cover and dive over for a third try in the left-hand corner.

Richards, in his deadpan way, said that he was “delighted”, but pointed to a difficult run-in to the play-offs. “The youngsters are maturing and learning with every game,” he said. “There's a great ambience in the side and a feeling of wanting. Nick Easter was unavailable with a bad knee but Tom Guest is playing out of his skin at the moment.”

Scorers: Bristol: Tries: T Arscott (23 min), penalty try (53). Conversion: Barnes. Penalty goal: Barnes (10). Harlequins: Tries: Amesbury (7), Brown (63), Botha (69), Robson (80+2). Conversion: Jarvis. Penalty goals: Jarvis (28), Malone (57). Scoring sequence (Bristol first): 0-5, 3-5, 8-5, 8-8 (half-time), 15-8, 15-11, 15-18, 15-23, 15-28.

Bristol: L Arscott; T Arscott, N Brew (rep: G Barden, 77), S Cox, D Lemi; E Barnes (rep: J Strange, 77), S Perry (rep: H Thomas, 77); A Clarke (rep: D Crompton, 64), S Linklater (rep: M Regan, 64), J Hobson, R Winters, N Budgett (rep: S Hohneck, 64), M Salter, A Blowers (rep: I Grieve, 77), D Ward-Smith.

Harlequins: M Brown; S Keogh, DW Barry, J Turner-Hall, C Amesbury (rep: C Malone, 55-60); A Jarvis (sin-bin: 48-60; rep: Malone, 70), D Care; C Jones, T Fuga (rep: G Botha, 70), M Ross, O Kohn, G Robson (rep: J Evans, 50-60), C Robshaw (rep: C Hala'ufia, 41) W Skinner, T Guest (rep: Evans, 78).

Referee: D Rose.

Attendance: 9,764.