The early season Bristol verdict on Sheedy vs MacGinty No10 battle

Pat Lam has described Bristol as blessed in having Wales’ Callum Sheedy going head to head this season with the USA’s AJ MacGinty for the No10 shirt at the Gallagher Premiership club. Having honed his craft by becoming the first-choice out-half under Lam in recent years and going on to star at Test level, most notably when putting England to the Guinness Six Nations sword in February 2021, Sheedy’s form wobbled last term.

The soon-to-be 27-year-old was unable to lift the Bristol slump in results and this carried over into the Test arena where Wales axed him from their squad for the July tour of South Africa. A rebound was needed, especially with the summer arrival of 32-year-old MacGinty at the club after he agreed to join from Sale where he had been since 2016.

Bristol’s results have since been much improved, the Bears winning three of their first four matches in the 2022/23 Premiership. Sheedy was the starting No10 in the wins over Bath and Wasps, coming off the bench in the round three win over London Irish that left them top of the table and again in last weekend’s surprise loss at bottom club Newcastle.

MacGinty started those two most recent matches having initially been a sub in rounds one and two, and he now returns to the replacements bench for this Friday night’s Ashton Gate showdown with Exeter as director of rugby Lam has opted to restore Sheedy to the No10 jersey.

Prior to confirming that selection, Lam spoke about the battle between Sheedy and MacGinty for the starting slot at Bristol and how it was bringing out the best of the Test-level duo at a club crying out for consistency following last season’s painful lower-table crash.

“Really pleased,” purred Lam when asked for his thoughts on the Sheedy versus MacGinty battle at Bristol in recent weeks. “As a team, we are very blessed. Callum has come back fitter, stronger and better and played really well, and then AJ has come back and had two good games as well. The biggest thing for AJ is he is still learning our game and the systems. I remember when he came to Connacht (in 2015) it was the same, it took him a while to pick it up in that sense but he is doing really well because it is not that easy, particularly at ten.

“But again he has fitted in extremely well in the group and the thing I am really enjoying is the two of them have got a good relationship and they drive our game. They drive off-the-field thoughts and ideas, they do their kicking together and so it is great for us to have two good ones. Really pleased.”

Asked how difficult last season was for Sheedy, Lam reckoned the response in recent weeks showed that his player has shrugged off that trauma. “Definitely. You look at the first two games he played at the start of the season against Bath and Wasps away where we hadn’t won there in 22 years and he was on fire. You could see the response. He played very well in the pre-season games as well.

“Of course, he was disappointed with missing out on the tour with Wales and he was also disappointed with the Bears season but that is like anybody. You have a choice to make, what are you going to do about it and he has come back so much better and we’re pleased.”