Bristol Bears Director of Rugby Pat Lam believes the Premiership Cup is valuable for the development of younger players to play rugby the “Bristol Way”, following the Bears’ 67-19 win over Bedford Blues, where they scored 11 tries.
“I’m very proud and pleased for them. If you put a drone above the game and put that game on against our other games, you wouldn’t know that there’s a change of jerseys,” said Lam.
“You see Paddy Pearce running down the sideline making some good runs. Seven days ago, Stephen Luatua’s wearing that jersey,” he said.
“Joe Owen, who I thought was huge running our line-out, massive in defence, and carrying the ball. Joe Batley was wearing that jersey, so within the system it gives everyone confidence, and the boys stepped up.”
Director of Rugby @BristolBears Pat Lam, brimming with pride following his young sides 67-19 win in the Premiership Rugby Cup over Bedford Blues! 🏉🔊 : pic.twitter.com/uVhTANvGb7
— Park Life Sport (@ParkLife_Sport) November 4, 2024
Lam named a rotated 15 for the tie, with 12 changes from the Northampton home game the previous weekend, and expressed the importance of rotation as his side navigates the season.
“It’s what we’ve been training, the regulars that have been playing, the others were training exactly the same against them, so it was just their turn to go.
“I thought we played some really good rugby, and the boys were all talking downstairs about how it was enjoyable and it was good to play our game,” he said.
In the past Lam has made it no secret that his ambition is to win trophies, and sees the competition as the perfect opportunity.
Embed from Getty Images“I said last week, any tournament you go in, you got to go and believe you can win it. What’s the point otherwise?
“I think we’ve been guilty in the past that it used to be a competition where you just give guys some game time,” said Lam.
“But the boys knew right from the beginning of the season as part of their motivation to keep training and learning, because when we get to the cup, you will get your chance there.
“Finals rugby for this is not going to be decided till February, so we had to get off to a good start, and we’ve got a massive challenge next week because we got Bath, but we got Australia first,” he said.
The Bears host an Australia XV on Friday, November 8, before a trip to The Rec to play their local rivals in the cup the following day.
The @wallabies are in town ahead of Friday night! 🦘
— Bristol Bears 🐻 (@BristolBears) November 4, 2024
Got your ticket for our clash with Australia XV? 🌏🎟️ pic.twitter.com/bYdsHlxyTW
115 years after the first touring Australia team played a combined Bristol and Clifton outfit, the Bears will host the again touring Wallabies on Friday night, a fixture that Lam will prioritise.
“I’m thankful there are no more injuries, so we can get to where we can probably go for the strongest 15 against Australia, then the next group can go against Bath.
“They’ll train against each other, and we’ll prepare both teams simultaneously. We’ll go for an A team on Friday night, and then we’ll head to the Rec, where I’m pretty confident Bath will be strong,” said Lam.
