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Bear with them...Premiership bound Bristol have 'renamed' the club

The Bristol Bears will inhabit an enclosure at Ashton Gate

Bristol Rugby will become the Bristol Bears from June 1st 2018, heralding a “brave new era” at Ashton Gate, it has been announced.

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Bristol confirmed promotion last week – bouncing straight back into the Premiership – and they will return to England elite as with a new look, as well as a bevy of new players.

They have also unveiled new home and away kits with the Bristol Bears logo.

Stephen Lansdown said the club had been “in a time-warp and we got caught out last season in the Premiership – we can’t let that happen again.”

Lansdown said the rebranding is part of an effort to increase the number of supporters attending games at Ashton Gate to 25,000 from a base of about 14,000 currently.

The new name has had a mixed reaction online, with some questioning why the supporters club were not consulted about the renaming.

In the official statement this afternoon Bristol say: “Over the last eighteen months, the club has carefully considered how best to shape its long-term future. We firmly believe that the ground-breaking move will attract a whole new generation of supporters and – most importantly – inspire success on and off the field.”

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In the official online release Lansdown said: “This is an exciting and major commitment to ensuring the future success of the club. In order to succeed in our mission to Inspire Our Community Through Rugby Success, we must make bold changes to ensure we are prepared for the demands of this highly competitive, dynamic environment.

“We have to be prepared to break the mould and be relentless in driving the progression of this rugby club. In a challenging market, in order to attract investment and new audiences, we must be brave in our vision. The development of the brand expands our appeal to a global audience at a time when the appetite for professional rugby is growing in international markets.

The Bristol Bears are here
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“We believe these changes – alongside the matchday improvements to Ashton Gate and the continued engagement with local schools and our community – are critical to enable long-term success.

“We recognise that there is a history and tradition associated with all sports clubs and we are conscious and proud of the loyalty, bond and passion so many share for Bristol Rugby.

“We hope that all supporters will embrace the changes and recognize the significant investment taking place – on and off the field – to bring success and a sustainable future for the club.”

Watch episode one of Rugby Explorer with Jim Hamilton.

Ex-Scotland international, Jim Hamilton, travels to Singapore to explore the city and find out more about the rugby scene in the Southeast Asian country. He meets up with the national team captain and several local players.

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f
fl 1 hour ago
What is the future of rugby in 2025?

Smith generally isn't well connected to his forward pods; doesn't do a great job of distributing to those around him; and has inferior positional and contestable kicking games than Ford and Fin.


When England have had success over the past few years, its been either through (i) defensive rugby backed up with smart tactical kicking or (ii) high possession attacking phase play based on quick ruck ball. George Ford was key to the implementation of (i) in the RWC, and in the 6N win over Wales, and to the implementation of (ii) in the 6N games against Ireland and France. Smith did great at (ii) when running at tired defenders at the end of the Ireland match, but has never successfully implemented that gameplan from the start of a test because he doesn't distribute or support his forwards enough to create consistent fast ball and build attacks over multiple phases. Instead, his introduction to the starting side has resulted in much more playmaking responsibilities being forced onto whoever plays 9. Alex Mitchell copes ok with that, but I think he looks better with a more involved playmaking 10 outside him, and it really isn't a gameplan that works for JVP or Spencer. As a result of that the outside backs and centres have barely touched the ball when Smith has been at 10.


This might not have been too much of a disaster, as England have seemed to be moving slightly towards the sort of attacking gameplan that France played under Labit and Quins play (I think this was especially their approach when they won the league a few years ago - but its still a part of their play now), which is based on kicking to create broken field rugby. This is (i) a sharp departure from the gameplans that have worked for England in the past few seasons; (ii) bears very little relation to the tactical approaches of the non-Quins players in the England team; and (iii) is an absolute disaster for the blitz defence, which is weak in transition. Unsurprisingly, it has coincided with a sharp decline in England's results.

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