David Howell has taken a swipe at the RFL after returning from suspension to inspire Harlequins to a vital victory at Bradford last weekend.

The centre crossed for two late tries in a crucial 22-14 win at Odsal on Sunday, a win that both ended Quins’ six-game losing streak and hoisted the Londoners back into the play-off places.

And for Howell, who was banned for three games after being adjudged to have elbowed Sam Tomkins in the loss at Wigan, it was a sweet return.

He said: “It is incredibly frustrating to be sat on the sidelines when you are not injured, especially when the team is losing.

“I’m still pretty ticked off about the whole suspension to be honest.

“What annoys me is that the system here is a lot different to what happens in Australia - back home every game gets televised so everybody gets treated the same, but here if you are not on Sky you can get away with a lot.

“I admit what I did looked bad but it was not intentional in any way.

“But because the game was on Sky they show it from six different angles and in slow-motion and it looks worse than it was.

“But I just had to take the punishment and stay fit.”

Howell’s late brace added to tries from Matt Gafa and Ryan Esders as Quins claimed the win at the struggling Bulls.

And the Australian admitted it was just the boost they needed.

Howell added: “It was a good win for us and a very important one.

“We have had a real tough period recently but hopefully we can put that behind us now and build on this.”

Brian McDermott’s men face Bradford again this weekend at the Stoop, but the centre has dismissed claims that there will be any complacency.

He added: “We always take games one at a time and we always seem to have to grind wins out anyway so we will not be taking it easy.

“This is a massive opportunity for us now.

“We have had our bad patch and now we are picking up form again.

“Players are coming back from injury and we are getting back to our best.

“Now we need to try and string a few wins together and see if we can force a home game in the play-offs.”

Harlequins RL’s next three matches: Aug 8 Bradford (h), 15 Salford (h), 21 Hull (a)