Bristol Bears' new signings better be ready for a massive playbook
Samoa captain Chris Vui has helped Bristol Bears defy the doom mongers with a high risk attacking game plan that could earn a top six finish in the Gallagher Premiership.
Having been promoted to the top flight this season, Bristol were supposed to adopt the usual position for new boys at the bottom of the league and attempt to dig themselves out of trouble with a combination of pragmatic forward play and points from the boot.
Instead, Bristol head coach Pat Lam and his players have stuck religiously to the policy of letting the players attack from whatever distance they want and while it has led to periods of self-inflicted problems, the West Country outfit have been great to watch. Bristol head into tomorrow night’s final home game with Sale having recorded the club’s first “double” over Leicester and that win featured the kind of risk taking that has the Ashton Gate faithful turning up in impressive numbers.
Second row Vui said: “The boys have huge confidence in how we play and there isn’t any fear about running that ball out. But it isn’t as if we are pulling that kind of rugby out of nowhere because we train like that even though to other people it may appear quite drastic or ballsy. We back each other and our skills to play this way and for the new guys coming in next season there is huge amount of detail to learn about our plays.
“Last year in the Championship we had a good core of boys and with Pat’s great leadership and the culture that was created we continued the belief into this season. Right throughout the squad there is real confidence about what we can achieve.”
Central to what Bristol have achieved this season has been Lam, who this week announced that 11 players would be leaving the club, including his cousin Jack and Wallaby great George Smith with England No8 Nathan Hughes arriving from Wasps along with Bath lock Dave Attwood. With the Bears strong Islander community losing four families this could be a difficult time, but Vui dismisses that suggestion and points to Lam’s ability to create a special culture to back up his view.
Vui said: “Being honest is a great trait to have and Pat believes in a culture of the family and you don’t lie to your family members. He talks straight and you have to take it on the chin and not whinge about it.
“There is always feed back from Pat if there is something wrong or you have a bad game. His door is always open for you to have a chat with him about anything and for the young boys that is really important because they want to make those international squads.
“There will be guys leaving and others arriving at the end of the season and it is a sad time when boys and their families leave.
“From day one we had the attitude that you are on the bus or you are not and right until the last match of the season all the boys will have the same attitude that we are going to keep working right to the very end. If we can get the two wins then it may be a top six finish and that would be a great way to round things off.”
Vui had groin surgery earlier in the season and is now operating at the top of his game, delivering 20 tackles and winning six line outs against Leicester last weekend.
“I have always had confidence and it was a case of somebody giving me an opportunity to play on the World stage and the Premiership was always the goal. Last year it was a bit of a sacrifice down in the Championship. I had surgery on my groin and now I am really happy with the way things are going.”
The 26-year-old lock forward has two more games with Bristol and he will then assume the leadership of Samoa for their 2019 World Cup campaign in Japan where they are in the same pool as Ireland, Scotland, Japan and Russia.
Lam won 10 of his 34 Samoa caps at World Cups and Vui is hoping to replicate the feel-good-factor the head coach has created at Bristol when he meets up with his international team mates.
Vui, who has 12 caps, was the youngest captain in World rugby when he was handed the leadership of Samoa in 2017 and his experience in the Premiership with first Worcester and now Bristol will give him crucial reference points when he leads his country in Japan.
Samoa have always made an impression at the World Cup but recent years have seen the team make headlines revolving around financial problems afflicting their Union rather than on the pitch. They needed a play-off to qualify for Japan, beating Germany easily over home and away legs and trail behind fellow Islanders Fiji and Tonga in the upset betting in Japan.
However, the presence of so many Samoa test players in Europe gives Vui hope that his country can knock over higher ranked teams in the sport’s show piece event. Hosts Japan are 11 th in the ranking, six places above Samoa who will be confident of proving their pedigree against the 20th ranked Russians and then hope to be supremely competitive when facing Ireland (3rd) and Scotland ( 7th). Vui added: “Samoa always do well in knock-out rugby and the boys will have to come together quickly and deal with the warm up games before the World Cup. We can take confidence from being involved in European rugby and take that into our game plan.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The Irish are tired and the Boks are old. The test series won't confirm who is best in the world, it will confirm which team needs to pursue the task of rebuilding with the most urgency.
7 Go to commentsGrant, the first time I have seen an article written by you. Maybe I have missed your previous stuff. These days all professional players effectively play a common season so all top players are equally tired, or rested. That is the job of the coaching ticket to build squad depth and juggle resources so players are ‘ fresh’ when the big games come. Possibly Ireland are less inclined to juggle squad compared to Rassie, who is prepared to take the risk to rest players as well as build depth throughout the year so come WC he has a full squad, experienced and rested enough to win 7 games. After all, to win WC you need to get through the tournament and then win the final big 3 games. Ireland should try and build a bit so come final 3 they are ready. So far only played final 1(QF). I am so looking forward to the Irish tour. Hopefully Rassie has enough time to align his guys, as he draws them from across the globe, and not from 2 sides locally( eg Leinster, Munster). No excuses, going to be exciting.
7 Go to commentsIn football, teams get fined and sometimes docked points for deliberately fielding weakened teams yet Leinster can pretty much do as they please with no comebacks. Could it be because Ireland run the URC? Could it be that Ireland run the ERC? Whichever it is, it stinks!!
5 Go to commentsIreland are only the People’s Champions in Irish eyes. The rest of the world do not care for them very much because of attitudes of people like Gordon, Ferris, Best, Jackman…I could go on!!
7 Go to commentsNot sure how Karl Dickson can ever ref a Quins game, he played for the club for 8 years as understudy to Care and is still close friends with half the team
3 Go to commentsAre bookies taking bets on how many times Vunipola's eventual statement will use the term “elders"? My money is on at least 4 times.
4 Go to commentsSo Ireland will be tired, despite having the most rested test squad in the world. They only play tests, champions cup and urc play off games ffs! Case in point; Leinster sent a B squad to SA for their last two games while their first xv rested up and trained at their leisure for the sf vs Saints at the so called ‘neutral venue’ of Croke Park. So tired? Do me a favour… And as for “people’s champions”? Seriously??? Outside of Ireland they are respected for their ability to win 6N. And of course plenty of inconsequential test friendlies without any real pressure. WC ko games when the pressure is white hot? Not so much…
7 Go to commentsSurprising how standing down or benching a player can do wonders for their motivation. Several players this week in that category.
1 Go to commentsHaha lads lads lads, that’s how you have a holiday In Majorca
4 Go to commentshit on Lynagh was defo late and card-worthy. The other 2 are bang on OK. Hurts you at Test level if youre timing is off and the nostrils are flared. Jerry C knew when to lean in on one, Finau just needs to keep his discipline and head straight.
5 Go to commentsSlade was exceptional against Gloucester. Not only was he doing the classic Slade stuff of running amazing lines and timing passes to perfection to put his wingers into space, he was kicking goals, flying off the line smashing people and crashing into rucks like a flanker… his hair even looked on point. 😍
1 Go to commentsThat’s really sad, hope everyone involved is ok. At least he had pants on.
4 Go to commentsTo be fair it was nowhere bear the Leinster first team (for which, btw, Leinster copped nothing like the outrage that Jake White did for sending a rotated team to the UK). But it’s fun to watch the Stormers doing their thing. They are attracting big, diverse crowds of young fans, and deservedly so. Great to see.
1 Go to commentsIt might be legal but he’s sailing pretty close to the wind. Not a lot needs to go wrong for Finau to end up in the bin. Was it late? Not quite, but borderline. High? A couple of CM within the laws, no room for error with that one. Did he wrap the arms? There was a token effort to wrap one arm, the intent was clearly to hit with the shoulder. So yeah, it’s legal, just. But as we all know, a very slight change in the dynamics could easily have him seeing red. Hopefully not when it really matters.
5 Go to commentsCan we also show some love for Tane Edmed’s fantastic draw and pass? Put his body on the line and committed the defender before letting go of that pass. Flawless skill.
5 Go to commentsYou forget this is Rassie Erasmus who is still holding the Springbok keys. Even with Felix Jones orchestrating a really tight RWC SF last year. It still wasn't enough to get England past their particular Springbok Monkey in world cups. The reason is FJ was going off of what they did in 2019 not necessarily adapting to current Springboks. So yes, Australia can get passed England because let's be honest, England have a one track strategy, Springboks do not. Even with rush defense I wouldn't be surprised if Rassie continually tweaks it. Also bear in mind Rassie is happy to sacrifice a few mid year and inter World Cup matches to pin point how opposition plays and how to again tweak strategies to get his Springboks in peak performance for the next World Cup. As much as most teams like to win games in front of them and try to win everything, Rassie always makes sure to learn and train for the greatest showdown International Rugby has to offer. Tbh, most people remember World Cup wins and ignore intermediate losses as a result but will remember also WC losses, Ireland, even if they won games in the interim. So even if games are won against the Springboks, it's likely Rassie is just getting a feel for how opposition is moving and adapt accordingly…in time. For Rassie, a loss is never a loss because he uses it as a chance to learn and improve. Sometimes during a game, again like the England match in last year's Semi Final.
7 Go to commentsDanny don't care. He pretends to care but he don't. He says all this stuff to justify his reasoning but no one can claim that legitimately. He knew exactly what he was doing and wondered if his old team mate would overlook it, which he did. Ref has got to be sidelined or properly trained. It's one thing for refs to move up the ranks but if it was me I would require refs to either have played in different clubs or not at all having the temptation to bias in high stakes games like this. This has got to be stamped out. But then again World Rugby is so destroying the game of rugby in an attempt to be more “safe” and “concussion free”. What they are doing is making it more infuriating for the fans and more difficult for the refs to officiate evenly and consistently. It's fast become Australian Rules football. If guys don't want concussions, they should have played chess. Stop complaining you oldies of the game. When they played the game was vastly heavier hitting than it is now but of course they can't see that.
3 Go to commentsJa, why do Bulls get flack for not bringing their best but Leinster never bring their best and it goes “unnoticed”?
5 Go to commentsIt’ll be very interesting to see how Razor’s AB’s handle the new England rush D. It’s basically the Bok recipe they copied, so if England goes well then we know most likely the Boks will go well too. If England cops a hiding then we’ll have to study and adapt.
7 Go to commentsTypical trait of an australian is to moan. Goes well with there lack of humbleness as evident by the Reds bench on the weekend.
5 Go to comments