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Bristol revise the heated first impression of their Champions Cup crash
Bristol boss Pat Lam has pointed the finger of blame in-house for his team’s frustrating Heineken Champions Cup round of 16 exit in Bordeaux. The Gallagher Premiership club coach initially expressed his anger over refereeing decisions that happened during the course of the April 4 17-36 defeat.
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However, having had more time to reflect, he and his coaching staff are now taking their frustrations out on the training ground, clamping down on training game infringements in the hope of ensuring Bristol can be a better disciplined, less error-strewn team in the run-in to the Premiership semi-finals.
Bristol return to action on Saturday at Newcastle and they hope that the intense work they have done during their 13-day gap in between competitive matches will ensure they are not left cursing their luck – and the referee – again.
The Bears started beautifully in France with a Henry Purdy try but they then got into penalty trouble and trailed 15-14 at the break before going on to lose following the concession of two tries in the closing ten minutes, the first one a hotly debated concession as it was felt that Bordeaux had knocked on earlier in the move.
That incident left Lam fuming but he has since made his peace with the Champions Cup refereeing team and instead taken matters into his own hands at training to try and influence an improvement when league leaders Bristol head to Kingston Park at the weekend.
Fuming. https://t.co/fpUQKmQFmS
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 4, 2021
Asked what was the main takeaway from the painful European exit was, Lam said: “Discipline. We should have been two, three scores ahead. It is easy to say that but when you show options that were available, holes that were available, either us dropping the ball or passing when we were in gaps…
“We scored an excellent team try off a set-piece, Henry Purdy, which gave us a start, but we gave away ridiculous penalties that were of our own making. We arrived at half-time where we had pretty much gifted them 15 points from stupid decisions.
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“Discipline was an issue against Harlequins, it was an issue against Sale, so we have had a really good time to discuss solutions on how we improve that, so we have been working away on that and hopefully we will see that this weekend.
“A lot was made of the officials but I have spoken to Joel Jutge and I am comfortable they look that. That is not the reason we lost. Certainly, we should have been in a stronger position before we got to that last ten, 15 minutes. After half-time, we made three or four real basic errors which put us under pressure in the first five minutes.
“You go through it, deal with the players individually and as a group in the sense that they get a chance to reflect and feedback on it, and we came out of that with really good outcomes and that is the sort of thing you want to improve.
“No one wants to not play their best, no one wants to make mistakes, but there were things that cost us and you say, right, here is our learning and there is more emphasis. Even at training now we make sure we call guys who are a centimetre offside or bad pictures – and the players drive that as well.”
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Pre-Covid, the Bears used to have referees along to training to help spruce up their act. Now the officiating is left to the Bristol coaches and they have been busy in the aftermath of their Champions Cup exit. “You will have someone who is looking up and down the field radio in if it is offside. It’s fair to say we haven’t been as tight on that but that has been one of the outcomes for us as coaches looking at.
“We have got to look at ourselves and say, right, we have to have stronger consequences and what the players have come saying too we have got to do that at training as well. They have come up with some good ideas. I won’t share them. Everyone wants to drive this together.
“We can’t keep doing ‘sorry boys, my bad’ because it cost us in the Champions Cup. We are trying to get guys to reflect their game, not only on the technical thing of I was offside or I missed the jump or I missed the tackle, we put that in the context and the moment in the game and then have a really good reflection.
“You can say well I missed my lift but that was the last lineout where we had a chance to win the game. When you put in tactical context it certainly helps the growth.”
'Can you imagine a Premiership club going ‘Right lads, we’re going skiing’. Absolutely no way… it was me, Bryan Habana & Duane Vermeulen learning to ski together' @Dmjattwood fell out of love with rugby at Bath but found it again, writes @heagneyl ??? https://t.co/QWWZQPD1Ek
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 21, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
What was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
28 Go to commentsReally hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
1 Go to commentsI wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
83 Go to commentsThanks for the write up. Great to see the Rebs winning, I am a little interested in how they will go against the remaining kiwi teams, I think they’ve only played Hurricanes and Highlanders but how great to see these players performing!! I also see Parling has a job beyond June 30! A good move by RA? Also how do you fix the Rebels previously scratchy defence?
83 Go to commentsbe smart - go black
13 Go to commentsNext week the Crusaders hopefully have Scott Barrett back. Will be great to have the captain back. Hopefully he will be the All Black captain as well.
12 Go to commentsExciting place to be for the young fella. I expected he was French Polynesian when I saw him included in the France 6N squad (after seeing him in NZs), and therefor be strong grounds we might loose him to rugby down here. Good, in that he is good enough to warrant such a profile, and from a journalism’s fan interaction aspect, to finally get a back ground story on the fella. Hope he has settled into NZ OK and that at least one rugby country will fit with him to help his development, which, if so, he should surely continue for a few years, and then that he can experience France to it’s fullest with a bit more maturity and less reliance on family than you would have at his current age. A good 3 or 4 years before he would be ready for International duty if he wanted to wait. Of course he already sounds good enough to accept a call up, and to cap himself, in the more immediate future (he’d have to be very very good in the case of the ABs), and he’ll get a great taste of that being with the Canes who have a bunch who are just a few years further into their career and looking likely Internationals themselves.
13 Go to commentsI remember towards the end of the original broadcasting deal for Super rugby with Newscorp that there was talk about the competition expanding to improve negotiations for more money - more content, more cash. Professional rugby was still in its infancy then and I held an opposing view that if Super rugby was a truly valuable competition then it should attract more broadcasters to bid for the rights, thereby increasing the value without needing to add more teams and games. Unfortunately since the game turned professional, the tension between club, talent and country has only grown further. I would argue we’re already at a point in time where the present is the future. The only international competitions that matter are 6N, RC and RWC. The inter-hemisphere tours are only developmental for those competitions. The games that increasingly matter more to fans, sponsors and broadcasters are between the clubs. Particularly for European fans, there are multiple competitions to follow your teams fortunes every week. SA is not Europe but competes in a single continental competition, so the travel component will always be an impediment. It was worse in the bloated days of Super rugby when teams traversed between four continents - Africa, America, Asia and Australia. The percentage of players who represent their country is less than 5% of the professional player base, so the sense of sacrifice isn’t as strong a motivation for the rest who are more focused on playing professional rugby and earning as much from their body as they can. Rugby like cricket created the conundrum it’s constantly fighting a losing battle with.
4 Go to commentsOh wow… “But as La Rochelle proved in winning in Cape Town this season, a cross-continental away assignment need not spell the end of days.” La Rochelle actually proved quite the opposite. After traveling to Cape town and back they (back-to-back and current champs) got mercilessly thumped the next week. If travel is not the reason, why else would a full-strength powerhouse like La Rochelle get dumped on their @r$e$ one week later?
28 Go to commentsYou know he can land a winning conversion after the full time siren is up. (Even if it takes two attempts.)
5 Go to commentsA very insightful article from Jake. I would love to know how South African’s feel about their move to Europe. Do you prefer playing in Europe or want to go back to Super Rugby?
4 Go to commentspure fire
1 Go to commentsA very well thought out summary of all the relevant complications…agree with your ”refer the Cricket Test versus 20/20 comparison”. More also definitely doesn't necessarily mean better!
4 Go to commentsMust be something when you are only 19 y.o and both NZ and France want you. Btw he wasn’t the only new caledonian in french U20 as Robin Couly also lived in Noumea until 17. Hope he’s successful wherever he chooses to play.
13 Go to comments“Several key players in the Stade Rochelais squad are in their thirties” South Africans are going to hate the implications of that comment!
5 Go to commentsI know Leinster did a job on La Roche but shortly after HT Leinster were 30-13 ahead of them and at a similar time Toulouse were trailing Exeter. At 60 mins Leinster were 27 ahead but after 67 mins Toulouse were only 19 ahead before Exeter collapsed. That’s heavier scoring by Leinster against the Champions. I think people are looking at Toulouses total a little too much. I also think Northhampton are in with a real chance, albeit I’d put Leinster as favourites. If Leinster make the final I expect them to win by more than ten and with control.
5 Go to commentsHey Nick, your match analysis is decent but the top and tail not so much, a bit more random. For a start there’s a seismic difference in regenerating any club side over a test team. EJ pretty much had to urinate with the appendage he’d been given at test level whereas club success is impacted hugely by the budget. Look no further than Boudjellal’s Toulon project for a perfect example. The set ups at La Rochelle and Leinster are like chalk and cheese and you are correct that Leinster are ahead. Leinster are not just slightly ahead though, they are light years ahead on their plans, with the next gen champions cup team already blooded, seasoned and developing at speed from their time manning the fort in the URC while the cream play CC and tests. They have engineered a strong talent conveyor belt into their system, supported by private money funnelled into a couple of Leinster private schools. The really smart move from Leinster and the IRFU however is maximising the Irish Revenue tax breaks (tax relief on the best 10 years earnings refunded at retirement) to help keep all of their stars in Ireland and happy, while simultaneously funding marquee players consistently. And of course Barrett is the latest example. But in no way is he a “replacement for Henshaw”, he’s only there for one season!!! As for Rob Baxter, the best advice you can give him is to start lobbying Parliament and HMRC for a similar state subsidy, but don’t hold your breath… One thing Cullen has been very smart with is his coaching team. Very quickly he realised his need to supplement his skills, there was talk of him exiting after his first couple of years but he was extremely shrewd bringing in Lancaster and now Nienaber. That has worked superbly and added a layer that really has made a tangible difference. Apart from that you were bang on the money… 😉😂
5 Go to commentsNot sure exactly what went wrong for him at Glasgow but it’s pretty clear he ain’t Franco’s cup of tea. Suspect he would have been better served heading out of Scotland around the same time as Finn, Hoggy and Jonny!
1 Go to commentsBulls disrespected the Northampton supporters and the competition. Decide quickly, fully in or out.
28 Go to commentsI wonder if Parling was ever on England’s radar as a coach? Obviously Borthwick is a great lineout coach, but I do worry he might be taking on too much as both head coach and forwards coach.
1 Go to comments