Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Lam tells Bristol to ditch the Leicester Christmas buffet

(Photo by PA)

Bristol boss Pat Lam has told his players to stop choosing from the tactical “buffet” and to deliver a set menu of moves to try and inflict a first defeat of the season on Leicester when the teams clash on Boxing Day.

ADVERTISEMENT

Lam believes Leicester kick the ball more than any team in World rugby and last season’s fixture featured a touchline argument at Welford Road over the substitution of prop John Afoa between the Bristol boss and opposite number Steve Borthwick which the pair have since ironed out.

However, the decision of Leicester captain Ellie Genge to leave at the end of the season to rejoin Bristol has raised temperature around the game again and while Lam has apologised to Tigers fans upset at a video showing Genge arriving at the Bears’ training ground the day his signed, he insists the England prop will be delivering a typically aggressive performance against the club he will join next season.

Video Spacer

West on playing for France

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:40
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:40
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
    • en (Main), selected
    Video Spacer

    West on playing for France

    Bristol, languishing in 12th place in the Premiership, believe that to knock over the league leaders they have to match the opposition’s physical approach while also changing their own game plan to recognise they are not operating with the fluidity that took them to the top for much of last season.

    Lam said: “We looked at our game and have grown it adding lots of layers and probably realised that we need to strip it back and get back to basics done really well. We have created a buffet and the problem was that there were a lot of choices about what you could do and so we laid out a set menu for the Champions Cup and going forward. We are not happy where we are at and a set menu, keeping things simple with everyone on the same page has been good.

    “We were excited to play the Scarlets and that got called off a the last minute and then we had all the preparation in place for Stade Francais and I feel for the players with the games being called off and now we face a massive challenge with Leicester top of the table. This what we want to be involved in.”

    ADVERTISEMENT

    O2 Inside Line: This Rose | Episode 1

    New Zealand v Ireland | Rugby World Cup 1995 | The Vaults

    Behind the scenes with the NEW ZEALAND women's sevens team in Perth | HSBC SVNS Embedded | Episode 5

    Argentina v Australia | HSBC SVNS Perth 2025 | Men's Final Match Highlights

    New Zealand v Australia | HSBC SVNS Perth 2025 | Women's Final Match Highlights

    The Dupont Ploy: How France went from underdogs to Olympic gods | The Report

    Former rugby player is truly an NFL superstar | Walk the Talk | Jordan Mailata

    Boks Office | Episode 33 | Dupont's Toulouse Too Good

    Trending on RugbyPass

    Comments

    0 Comments
    Be the first to comment...

    Join free and tell us what you really think!

    Sign up for free
    ADVERTISEMENT

    Latest Features

    Comments on RugbyPass

    R
    RedWarrior 14 minutes ago
    Many England fans echoing the same gripe following Six Nations loss

    The English defense was excellent in the first half. This is considering Ireland's attack has improved significantly since the Autumn with former Leinster attack coach Goodman. Ireland were beaten by NZ in the Autumn, are behind SA and arguably behind France so de facto 4th in order (rankings take time to catch up) As Eddie Jones said Ireland are still in that elite group so England's domination in the first half is noteworthy.

    I believe they have spent the time since the Autumn largely on defence. On broken play they were relying on Smiths instint along with some jiggery pokery. For Smiths early line break a Twindaloo blocked Baird which left the gap for smith. It looked like he did Aki, but Baird was a little late arriving and clever play by Tom Curry allowed the gap for Smith. Earls line break was Smith spotting Baird coming out and beating him with a beautiful pass to Earl.

    We saw the rehearsed plays for a couple of Ireland's tries. The Aki try was just identifying that England tended to hide Smith on the wing creating a vulnerability which Ireland exploited with one of Akis great finishes.

    Although Ireland were relaxing at the end the two English tries were good enough quality and we may see more of it next week (Scotland will also have taken note).

    Although on the easier side of the draw Borthwick almost took England to a RWC final.

    But in common with the top4 you need to have firepower to get those tries in big games. Can Borthwick manage that? I don't think so.

    Next week even if England have a great first half again, you would be looking at France converting 3 of those Irish chances and pushing on after the break.

    Can Borthwick develop a plan to beat France in the next few years. If the answer is no England need to find someone who can.

    9 Go to comments
    LONG READ
    LONG READ Six Nations: How Bordeaux-Begles' buccaneers are bringing the fire to France Six Nations: How Bordeaux-Begles' buccaneers are bringing the fire to France
    Search