In a year of disruption to the world of rugby, it has on the whole been a successful 2020 for the Bristol Bears with a Challenge Cup win and a Gallagher Premiership semi-final.
Lam’s side finished 2020 in style with a 27-19 bonus-point away win at Harlequins which sets them up for a potentially even better 2021.
The Bears found themselves behind at the break after a first-half where they struggled to breakdown the Quins defence despite dominating possession.
But three tries in the second-half from Steven Luatua, Harry Randall and Niyi Adeolokun, adding to Dan Thomas’s late first half try secured the victory and round of 2020 for the Bristol Bears.
The opening minutes of the game were played at an electric pace, with the Bears dominating both territory and possession.
They nearly found themselves ahead within the first five minutes, but Nathan Hughes was held-up over line for what would have been the quickest score in the Premiership this season.
Bristol continued to dominate the territory of the game but struggled to find their usual rhythm and they found themselves 3 points when Harlequins' Will Evans winning a penalty at the breakdown, allowing Marcus Smith to score the opening points of the game.
Smith added another penalty from range before adding a third when Yann Thomas was adjudged to have held on at the breakdown.
Harlequins points came from just 28% of the possession and no visits to the Bears' 22.
Callum Sheedy turned down a chance to kick his Bristol side's first points of the game, to kick to the corner, but a combination of some excellent Quins defence and some sloppy errors from the Bears allowed the home side to clear.
And the Quins fans may have felt aggrieved not long later when the TMO couldn’t find a reason to change the on-field decision after prop Wilco Louw crashed over the line and in all likelihood got the ball down.
Max Malins left the field due to what seemed like a thigh injury, but Bristol didn’t let this dent their confidence as they scored the game's first try after some outstanding link-up play from captain Luatua and Thomas allowed the Welsh flanker to run-in in the corner.
Sheedy failed with a conversion attempt, but the Bears had vitally narrowed the lead at the break.
After a stern half-time team talk, Pat Lam’s side started the second-half strongly, attacking Quins from the off after a clever short line-out move from Will Capon and Luatua put the Bears in a strong attacking position.
The Bears forward pack attacked the Harlequins' line, earning a penalty from which Harry Randall went quick before offloading to Luatua who crashed over.
Both sides' fly-halves exchanged penalties, keeping the Bears' lead to just three points.
But Bristol continued to apply attacking pressure and after a kick from Danny Care went straight out they were rewarded with their third try of the game.
Nathan Hughes ran hard from the subsequent line-out, drawing in a number of Quins defenders allowing Randall to dart through a gap in the defensive line for the game's third try.
And the Bears added a bonus-point with just less than 15 minutes to go when after some moments of class from Randall and Luatua, replacement Niyi Adeolokun sped past one defender before breaking the tackle of another to cross the line for his first try in a Bears shirt.
Semi Radradra exited the pitch on his return to a Bears shirt, and despite the Bears' bonus-point score being secured it was Harlequins who finished the game's scoring when Marcus Smith danced his way past two defenders to score a consolation try for the Quins.
Smith converted his own score but it wasn’t enough for the home side to come away with any points and Bristol came away from The Stoop with a late Christmas present of a five-point Premiership win to climb up to second in the Premiership heading into the New Year.
Harlequins: 15. Mike Brown , 14. Louis Lynagh, 13. James Lang, 12. Ben Tapuai, 11. Ross Chisholm, 10. Marcus Smith, 9. Danny Care; 1. Jordan Els, 2. Scott Baldwin, 3. Wilco Louw, 4. Dino Lamb, 5. Glen Young, 6. James Chisholm, 7. Will Evans, 8. Alex Dombrandt (capt).
Replacements: 16. Elia Elia, 17. Santiago Garcia Botta, 18. Simon Kerrod, 19. Hugh Tizard, 20. Tom Lawday, 21. Martin Landajo, 22. Lennox Anyanwu, 23.Tyrone Green
Bristol Bears: 15. Max Malins; 14. Siva Naulago, 13. Semi Radradra, 12. Piers O’Conor, 11. Ioan Lloyd; 10. Callum Sheedy, 9. Harry Randall; 1. Yann Thomas, 2. Will Capon, 3. John Afoa, 4. Dave Attwood, 5. Ed Holmes, 6. Steven Luatua (c), 7. Dan Thomas, 8. Nathan Hughes.
Replacements: 16. Bryan Byrne, 17. Jake Woolmore, 18. Max Lahiff, 19. Joe Joyce, 20. Jake Heenan, 21. Andy Uren, 22. Alapati Leiua, 23. Niyi Adeolokun.
