Prem talking points with Ellis Genge, George Hendy & Owen Farrell

“I thought the most pleasing thing in terms of attitude was the ability to stay in the game for 80 minutes.”

These were the words of Harlequins coach Jason Gilmore after his side were pinned down against cross-town rivals Saracens in October with a performance of guile and commitment.

Since then he hasn’t seen much to please him. The Quins have lost three of their last four Prem matches, while Bristol raced to crash the hosts’ Big Game party at the Allianz Stadium with four unanswered tries in the first half.

It was a worryingly poor showing on the biggest stage.

Their tackle success dropped to 76% and although they eclipsed 22 entries from 17 to 12, they had little of Bristol’s attacking flash until Marcus Smith made a late jig with the game already over.

Quins has great quality. Luke Northmore and Oscar Beard are a strong, playmaking midfield duo; Cadan Murley and Rodrigo Isgro provide pace and polish; Tyrone Green and Nick David are performing consistently at the top level.

Up front, Harry Williams and Guido Petti arrived in the summer to add grunt and growl to a package that also includes Fin Baxter, Chandler Cunningham-South, Alex Dombrandt and Jack Kenningham, as well as the grounding game of Will Evans.

But it doesn’t click.