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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
Lets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
10 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
10 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
35 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
35 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to comments