It was an evening for the kickers on a chilly and foggy Friday evening at the Stoop as Ben Botica and debutant Louis Grimoldby notched 21 points for the hosts, while Stephen Donald and Tom Heathcote could only muster 12.

Harlequins started the match in promising style and in the second half, the youngsters were up against it as Bath constantly pressurised the defence. The hosts held out Bath, who only added to their experience with substitutions as the match progressed.

During the first half Harlequins were dominant. Karl Dickson kept the game at a high tempo with little breaks, quick recycling of possession and quick tap penalties. Bath in contrast struggled to gain any momentum with possession as Stephen Donald's first contribution to the match was to fire a miss pass into touch.

Two early penalties from Botica gave the hosts a 6-0 lead, but it was the work of Tom Williams, Sam Smith and Seb Stegmann which allowed Harlequins to regularly break through the Bath defence.

It was Williams' initial break from the Harlequins 22 on eight minutes that set the Stoop alight. The ball then worked through the hands of Tom Guest and Luke Wallace. When the ball came back to Williams' hands, Harlequins were in Bath's 22. The promising attack was broken down when Ben Botica slipped as he gathered possession and was bundled into touch.

Williams was again at the centre of a second try scoring opportunity after switching play with Stegmann down the right wing. The full-back was denied a try, when his chip over the top was gathered in goal by Tom Biggs.

From the 22 dropout, Harlequins worked up field and Bath's ill-discipline allowed Botica to extend the lead to 9-0.

When Bath attacked, Harlequins were patient and effective in defence, conceding their first penalty, Donald put the visitors on the board, but when Stegmann stole the resulting restart and Bath impeded, Botica cancelled it out.

The hosts began to assert their dominance at scrum time and when Bath were penalised on for their fourth scrummaging offence Anthony Perenise was sin-binned.

During this sin bin period both kickers exchanged penalties and as half time approached the scores read 15-6.

In the dying moments of the half, Harlequins did well to prevent a late score. Olly Woodburn made an initial break down the right wing which brought Bath into the 22. This followed a half break from Dave Attwood before Charlie Beech surged toward the line. Despite the prop crossing the whitewash, the Harlequins defence held him up over the line, and Harlequins lead 15-6 at the break.

In the second half, Ben Botica was replaced by Louis Grimoldby. The first year academy fly-half was making his first senior appearance for the club and did more than prove his worth against a world cup winning ten in Donald.

It was the Bath fly-half that got the first points of the second half, but play was stopped for a number of minutes as Ben Williams was stretched off.

Michael Claassens was then brought on and made a big impact in upping the tempo of the visitor's game. The scrum-half fed the ball to Matt Banahan on 50 minutes and the centre collided with Jordan Turner-Hall. The Quins centre came off second best and while down the game continued. Bath shipped the ball wide after working into the 22 and Sam Smith was denied his third intercept try in as many games by knocking on in the process of catching.

As the replacements for both sides occurred, Bath were not losing any experience, while Harlequins were able to welcome academy members Jack Clifford, Kyle Sinckler and Sam Twomey.

Following Bath's replacement of Donald for Heathcote, Harlequins again had to defend with 14 men following an injury to Charlie Matthews. Thankfully this time when Bath worked their way to the line, a knock-on broke the attack down.

Following the hour mark, Bath began a wealth of dominance and regularly made camp in the Harlequins half. Despite dangerous runs from Woodburn, Heathcote and Semesa Rokoduguni, they could only put a further three points on the board.

Dickson shifted momentum when Harlequins were awarded a penalty, the scrum half's quick tap penalty caught the Bath line off guard and after offloads to Jack Clifford and Pete Browne Harlequins were playing just outside the Bath 22. The visitors infringed and Grimoldby stepped up to take his first points in a Harlequins jersey.

It wasn't long before the youngster, who juggles his rugby with a Business degree at Kingston University, doubled his tally for Quins following a penalty in the scrum with nine minutes left.

Two key turnovers from Captain Luke Wallace and Clifford late in the second half were key for Harlequins as Bath went hunting for a losing bonus point in the dying minutes. This privilege was not granted and Harlequins held out for victory.