Cerith Rees is collared by the Quins defence

Rees, twice, and Burke swapped penalties before a fine break by Bridgend's Adrian Durston was ended by a try-saving tackle from Nick Greenstock.

The importance of his intervention became apparent on the half-hour when Quins stretched their lead.

Scott Bernand made a superb burst from the base of a scrum, and sent Aussie flanker Tu Tamarau over for a simple try, which Burke converted.

Burke added another penalty before the break to give Quins a 20-9 interval lead.

After a stiff half-time talking to from coach Dennis John, Bridgend came out firing and soon got a scoresheet.

A fine box kick from Harries bounced kindly for the on-rushing who strolled over, but Rees missed the conversion.

Richard Bryan attacks the Quins defence

And they were inches away from scoring again, when Gareth Thomas kicked through and over the Quins line, but knocked on under pressure from Dan Luger.

But they weathered the storm and Burke, who spent two seasons in Wales with Cardiff, slotted over a calm 45-metre penalty before Rees replied to make it 23-17.

Luger looked dangerous every time he had the ball, and he showed his class by crossing after a fine three-quarters move with 17 minutes left. Burke added the conversion to put Quins in the clear.

Pat Sanderson arrived as a Harlequins replacement and then left the field a minute later after being yellow-carded as referee Joel Dume lost his patience with ruck and maul infringements.

And Bridgend made the most of their numerical advantage with Dafydd James touching down and Rees converting, but the score came too late to make any difference to the result.

Bridgend: Tries: A Durston, D James. Cons: C Rees. Pens: C Rees (4).

Harlequins: Tries: P Burke, T Tamarau, D Luger. Cons: P Burke (3). Pens: P Burke (3).

Bridgend: Adrian Durston; Gareth Jones, Gareth Thomas, John Funnell, Dafydd James; Cerith Rees, Huw Harries (capt); Christian Loader, Gareth Williams, Colin Noon, Paul Clapham, Chris Stephens, Maama Molitika, Jamie Ringer, Richard Bryan.
Reps: Daniel Jones, John Devereux, Jason Hewlett, Aled Griffiths, Chris Ferris, Keith Stewart, Nathan Budgett.

Harlequins: Mark Mapletoft; Matt Moore, Nick Greenstock, Chris Bell, Dan Luger; Paul Burke, Bemand; Bruce Starr, Keith Wood, Adrian Olver, Garrick Morgan (capt), Steve White-Cooper, Roy Winters, Tu Tamarua, Tony Diprose.
Reps: Jonny Roddam, Jason Leonard, Alex Codling, Pat Sanderson, Matthew Powell, Nick Burrows, Ryan O'Neill.

Referee: Joel Dume (France)