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Pat Lam: We came in at halftime... I said ‘boys, you’re not far off’

By PA
Pat Lam - PA

Bristol Bears boss Pat Lam praised his side’s fighting spirit as they came from behind to record a fourth successive victory in the Gallagher Premiership with a 33-24 win away to Gloucester at Kingsholm.

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Second-half scores from Magnus Bradbury and Benhard Janse van Rensburg proved decisive as the Bears kept alive their hopes of getting amongst the play-off places with just four rounds of the regular season remaining.

Lam, however, was refusing to get too carried away, insisting the focus is on Newcastle Falcons next and nothing more than that.

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“I’m really pleased with the boys,” said Lam. “We came in at half-time and I said ‘boys, you’re not far off’. We had gifted them three tries and the message was not to give them any more points and just keep coming at them. In the second half, the boys just kept coming and coming.”

Having trailed 24-19 at the break, the Bears dominated virtually the whole second half and they were duly rewarded for their efforts with all five points.

Fixture
Gallagher Premiership
Gloucester
24 - 33
Full-time
Bristol
All Stats and Data

“It’s not about the Premiership, it’s about our performance,” added Lam. “When we came back from the break the whole focus was on Saints. Once we did that, I said it’s about Gloucester. Now, our only concern is Newcastle in two weeks’ time. We looked at it, there’s six internationals for us, so we’ve done two Test matches, now we’ve got a third one and that’s our only concern.”

Bristol’s win lifts them to sixth in the current standings, whilst Gloucester – who sit ninth – still have to make up six points on Sale Sharks to get into the final Champions Cup spot.

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Gloucester head coach George Skivington had few complaints come the final whistle. He said: “Like I said at the start of this six-game block, for us it’s about going hard at every game. There are a few lads out there tonight who I wanted to see start in a Premiership game against what I knew would be a good team. I’ve learnt a bit and they’ve definitely learnt a bit, both good and bad.

“If I’m being honest, Bristol were the better side today. I thought in attack we were OK in the first half, but defensively we were miles off. We spoke about that at half-time and although I think we were better defensively in the second half, we didn’t really put ourselves in a position to fire a shot because Bristol were very good.”

Set Plays

5
Scrums
7
100%
Scrum Win %
86%
12
Lineout
13
83%
Lineout Win %
92%
6
Restarts Received
6
100%
Restarts Received Win %
100%

Among those to impress for the Bears was full-back Max Malins, whose showing will have been noted by watching England head coach Steve Borthwick.

“He’s done very well these last few weeks,” said Lam. “I always have a lot of admiration for people who bounce back. He had a tough time at the World Cup and with injuries, but when he came on last week – and what he did in 23 minutes then and 80 minutes again today – he did some great stuff.”

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R
RedWarriors 1 hour ago
France change two for Ireland but stick with 7-1 bench tactic

Again we beat SA in Durban with an injury ravaged team. Guys like you have been predicting Irelands downfall for years for the same reasons.


Re the draw: NZ and SA were making plenty of noise about the draw until they squeeked through. SA and NZ don’t ‘rise above’ the draw. They BENEFIT from it!!


Should Scotland #5 seed globally but drawn in a Pool with Ireland and South Africa just have ‘risen above it’? Wow, if only your advice had occurred to them.

Should Japan in 2015 have ‘risen above it’ and beaten Scotland when forced to play them 4 days after beating South Africa?


That old chesnut about Ireland playing too many players in 2023. Ireland showed no fatigue in the RWC. We played the backline a lot early for coordination as Sexton back from ban. For professional sports people, you need to look at extreme fatigue to failure at the end of full intensity matches. They are the pertinent minutes. A backline running shapes for 60 mins against Romania is not a recovery issue. Amateur statisticians adding up minutes and jumping to silly conclusions means little.


I saw South Africa struggle badly with fatigue after the Quarter Final. Against Engalnd, in the final, you needed luck. You didn’t rise above it: you got poxed.


(BTW son. YOU haven’t won a World Cup

Also to note: you are jsut adding to the reputation of SA as having the most thin skinned supporters on the planet. A comment about Ireland dominating SA physcially and you can’t accept it. SA are never domianted! (even when they are))

38 Go to comments
P
PR 2 hours ago
France change two for Ireland but stick with 7-1 bench tactic

Oh here we go again - the draw. If Ireland were that good they would rise above the draw. South Africa did. New Zealand did. Ireland, not so much. You seem to think that it matters what happens in the group stages of the WC. The ONLY thing that matters at World Cups is who lifts the cup in the end. That’s it. Do you take any pride in Ireland being ‘the best’ in your group at the World Cup? Does it make up for the hurt of crashing out in the quarters? Do you think it means anything to the All Blacks that they beat the Boks in the pool game in 2019? Of course not. You only care about those things when, like Ireland, you don’t progress past the knock out stages and are looking for silver linings.


Leinster beating an injury-ravaged Stormers means nothing. For starters the best player in the Leinster team was RG Snyman. Also a young Leinster team lost 62-7 to the Bulls a couple of years ago. You don’t know how good youngsters are until they play Test rugby. And that’s the concern for Ireland. They have blooded some youngsters but by-and-large they need to play their best team to get results. We saw it at the World Cup when the game minutes of Ireland players were off the scale.


Meanwhile the Boks had a 85% win record last year chopping and changing using 50 players. This year the wider Bok squad stands at 80. And Rassie will keep experimenting.


As for the Six Nations - I love it. Great comp (even though it only delivered one team in the last four at the last WC). I love the rivalry and the rich history, although winning it is no way near comparable to winning a World Cup. Maybe you need to have won one to understand.

38 Go to comments
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Bull Shark 3 hours ago
The revitalised Australians are pushing a Super Rugby revival

I am Delisha, I find my marital affairs in a fluid situation; my husband left me with 2kids I felt like ending it all. I was emotionally down. But all thanks go to Dr herbal. I came across several testimonies about Dr Herbal on guestbook as i was

Where’s Delisha gone?


I think it’s unfair and appalling that the moderators silence Delisha about her “fluid marital situation”!


Fascist censors!


I have decided to come to Rugbypass for all my Herbal and cybersecurity news given the many wonderful posts shared here. And now this!


Delisha, where ever you are, God speed. I hope the fluids in your marriage remain strictly between you and your husband.

49 Go to comments
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