Two Alex Dombrandt tries saw Harlequins to a bonus-point win at Gloucester even though they played most of the second half with 14 men – and ended with 13.

Dombrandt had earlier opened the scoring before James Chisholm’s try.

Gloucester had been level after Ed Slater’s first-half try but James Hanson’s two tries came too late.

The Cherry and Whites trailed 17-10 when Esterhuizen’s dismissal handed the home side a huge advantage, the centre dropping an elbow into Evans’ face for no obvious reason with the pair harmlessly tangled on the floor.

From the subsequent Gloucester attacks, Glen Young was sin-binned for pulling down a maul but Quins held out with 13 men.

Earle then extended the lead, gathering Marcus Smith’s perfectly-weighted kick over the defence and despite the television match official asking referee Ian Tempest to check what he advised was offside against Earle, Tempest decided the television picture was too tight to overturn his on-field decision.

There was also a suspicion of offside about Quins’ fourth try as number eight Dombrandt appeared to be ahead of Smith as he launched an up-and-under that fell for Luke Northcote, who passed for Dombrandt to run into the left corner.

Gloucester rallied with Hanson’s tries via driving mauls but the deficit was too great and the 2,000 fans allowed back at Kingsholm left disappointed.

Gloucester head coach George Skivington:

“The boys are gutted as coming into this game we were well prepared. And it was a good contest when each side had 15.

“When they went down to 13, we didn’t stick to our systems as there was no need to make the magic pass.

“They managed the game better as we didn’t deal with some well-judged kicks from their half-backs.

“We lost nine players in the last 48 hours and that definitely hurt us. It wasn’t ideal but I won’t use it as an excuse as we needed to adapt better.”

Harlequins director of rugby Paul Gustard:

“Sometimes it’s initially harder to play against 13 men as it takes time to work what adjustments the other team have made in terms of defence.

“Andre is a big man and is a physical player but it looked more of an arm-wrestle to me and it took four-and-a-half minutes of replays to make the decision to send him off after their player alerted the referee to it.”

Gloucester: Moyle; Thorley, Twelvetrees, Atkinson, Seabrook; Evans, Simpson; Ford-Robinson, Singleton, Stanley, Slater, Craig, Reid, Ludlow (capt), Ackermann.

Replacements: Hanson, Saville, Knight, Atkins, Gibson, Flinn, Trinder, Morris

Harlequins: Ashton; Earle, Northmore, Esterhuizen, Murley; Smith, Care; Botta, Baldwin, Louw, Tizard, Young, Chisholm, Evans, Dombrandt (capt).

Replacements: Elia, Els, Kerrod, Hammond, Lawday, Steele, Green, Lasike.

Referee: Ian Tempest (RFU).