Bath see off Harlequins thanks to vintage performance by Rhys Priestland

The morning mist gave way to afternoon sunshine, but two sides some way below full strength found themselves trapped in a haze. A game bristling with attacking intent too often lacked vision and clarity, raising the question of the value of league fixtures when so many teams are depleted.

Harlequins, who were missing six internationals and all of their understudies, had won their previous three Premiership matches against Bath and had hauled themselves into the top half of the table with their first away league victory of the season at Bristol the previous week, but they were hanging on for the first 25 minutes before fashioning a try out of nothing.

Bath were leading 6-0 through two Rhys Priestland penalties, but were creating little, despite a surfeit of possession. Priestland stood out for Wales in the 2011 World Cup by standing flat and assessing his options, but here was deep and lateral, bunching the midfield. Overlaps were squandered and when Semesa Rokoduguni did get behind the defence after Taulupe Faletau’s disguised pass fooled three tacklers, the wing did not take the expected outside route and stumbled into contact.

Bath won turnovers through Francois Louw, but were careless in possession. They applied pressure up front and used a glut of early penalties to dominate territorially. Two of their three-quarters, Harry Davies and Rory Jennings, were making their first Premiership starts and, like Quins, Bath had 20 players unavailable – but that only partly explained a lack of understanding that ended several moves prematurely.

Quins found their way into the game through their outside-half Ruaridh Jackson. His jinking break freed Marland Yarde, but the wing wasted the move when he was stripped of the ball by Max Clark, whose pass to Nathan Catt was knocked on. It summed up Bath’s afternoon, sublime one instant and ridiculous the next.

They paid for their wastefulness on 29 minutes, when Joe Marchant broke two tackles in midfield, quickly got back to his feet and was in support when Jackson straightened the line. The ball was moved swiftly left, where Mat Luamanu and James Chisholm combined to free Tim Visser, who caught Rokoduguni in various minds before riding Clark’s tackle to score.

Their second try, seven minutes after the break, was another example of how to get the ball wide. Matt Hopper followed his midfield break by firing a pass to Rob Buchanan on the right wing. It allowed the hooker to get into his stride and flatten Clark before passing inside to the unmarked Yarde.

Bath continued to run without going anywhere before Priestland fooled Quins by sliding sideways before suddenly straightening and running between two defenders, who were fooled by the unexpected. After Harry Davies was hauled down short of the line, Bath took play through six phases before Kahn Fotuali’i split the defence with a long pass to Clark.

Quins brought on a number of replacements, including the outside-half Nick Evans, but Priestland was by now transformed, showing the confidence and assurance of old. His two penalties in the final five minutes left Quins without the consolation of a bonus point and took his side to within two points of Saracens in second.