DANNY CARE produced a scrum-half masterclass to give Harlequins their second win of the season, scoring one of their five tries and having a crucial hand in three others. Care’s speed of thought, sniping runs and accurate kicking were top notch and England backs coach Brian Smith left the Stoop in no doubt that the Quins man is in form and raring to go.

Kip Keino, the great Kenyan distance runner, was also in the stands; he is on an IOC fact-finding mission as Kenya will be based in Bristol during the 2012 Olympics; and while he will have been impressed by Care’s gold medal quality, he will have been less sure of Bristol’s ability to last the pace.

With Bristol clinging on in the third quarter after turning round only 12-6 adrift, Care ensured they came unstuck when Robert Sidoli was carded for killing the ball, and Quins kicked for the corner. Nick Easter won the lineout and the nuggety Quins No 9 ducked and dived his way through a maze of bodies for the telling score, with Waisea Luveniyali converting to make it 19-6.

When, with 15 minutes left, Care won the chase for his grubber kick before slipping a scoring pass to Tom Guest, Bristol were scuppered. Andy Gomarsall replaced him and continued in the same vein by putting Gonzalo Tiesi over before Bristol replied in the last minute with a David Lemi try.

However, it was no consolation. Quins started the stronger with Care providing the prompting and Jordan Turner-Hall the power, and although Luveniyali, their Fijian fly-half replacement for the injured Nick Evans, missed with four penalties overall, it did not take long before Harlequins’ dynamic duo breached the Bristol defence.

Evans will be out for four or five weeks with medial liagment damage, but Care took over the mantle. With 11 minutes played he took a quick tap from a free kick and punted deep into the visitors’ 22, before hunting down Luke Arscott, who turned only slightly quicker than the Queen Mary. Quins piled in, Arscott was turned over, and Care’s long pass gave Turner-Hall the chance to beat his marker on the outside and glide home.

Bristol were hindered by the lack of poise at half-back, where Haydn Thomas and Adrian Jarvis looked edgy, and by a pack that was yards slower in the loose. Jarvis, who moved west over the summer after six years at the Stoop, had been promised a warm welcome on his return, and he felt the heat, severely underhitting his first penalty attempt.

Midway through the half Quins struck again, courtesy of a second Luke Arscott error in trying to run from deep. The full-back was swamped by the Quins chasers, and Care darted to the blind side before feeding Mike Brown, who raced in, Luveniyali converting for 12-0.

Jarvis landed a penalty on 35 minutes, and he trimmed the half-time deficit further when Ugo Monye was sin-binned for killing the ball. After that Quins, led by Care, concentrated on killing Bristol instead.