1
Pat Lam has hit back over the alleged lack of fitness at Bristol
Bristol boss Pat Lam has dismissed accusations that his struggling Premiership team are suffering from a fitness issue in the early stages of the 2021/22 season. The Bears, who last season finished on top of the regulation season table, have lost three of the opening four matches this term, a lack of form that has left them drifting in twelfth place just one point ahead of bottom club Bath.
ADVERTISEMENT
Especially wounding has been their lack of second-half scoring. While they managed 17 second-half points to come from behind to defeat Bath on October 1, they have failed to score after the interval in the three games that they have lost.
Half-time scores of 9-9, 8-16 and 24-7 became 9-26, 8-44 and 24-52 losses to Saracens, Wasps and Harlequins respectively in recent weeks, a second-half aggregate of 0-90 in those three defeats, and it has prompted speculation over their fitness. Ex-England out-half Andy Goode, for instance, this week told listeners of The Rugby Pod: “I’ll be honest about Bristol, they are absolutely f***ed fitness-wise. They didn’t play any pre-season games, they flew out of the blocks and then shot their bolt.”
The brickbats go against the grain of the pre-season message that emerged from Bristol before a ball was kicked, Kevin Geary, the club’s head of athletic performance, reporting that everyone was beating personal bests for times and lifts. Now coach Lam has weighed in on the debate, insisting before Saturday’s away clash at Newcastle that the speculation about an alleged lack of fitness in his Bristol squad is wide of the mark. “No concerns physical fitness. No. No,” he insisted at this week’s media briefing ahead of the long trip north.
Lam used an example of the action from last week’s defeat at Harlequins as a sign that his Bristol team are giving everything. “Nothing changes in the sense of the process,” he said when asked if three losses in four games were cause for concern. “It is always honest and that is how we learn. It is business as usual. Take away emotion. Take away all the surrounding noise and what was pleasing for me, the difference between this (Harlequins) loss and the Wasps loss was the amount of effort was still there.
Marcus Smith is levelling up this season ?
?? @btsportrugby pic.twitter.com/qPekTYHmO9
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 9, 2021
“If you look at some of the linebreaks and the scramble, we had one scrum and a couple of guys made a mistake on their reads and they broke all the way down the side in the first half and you look at the whole forward pack after doing the scrum all busting their legs to get back. They worked and they got the ball back… You don’t need honest conversations when you follow a process. The boys hurt, they each put their hands up and get back to work on it. Same with us coaches. Everybody. It’s how we can get better and we focus on those areas.”
Bristol have been missing the powerhouse Semi Radradra, who will be sidelined for four months due to knee surgery this month. Lam said a fortnight ago he would be looking for short-term cover but he was brusque when asked for an update on recruitment. “You always ask about recruitment and it’s the same as I have said to you for five years. That is my job. I’ll let you know when we have signed someone or if there is any news.”
ADVERTISEMENT
The Bears have also defensively been exposed out wide this term and they now face the prospect of shackling Newcastle sensation Adam Radwan, the Premiership player of the month for September. “He’s fast,” admitted Lam. “When we first saw him in the Prem and Newcastle were going down, in our last game of that season I thought he was electric. I remember saying to the coaching team, ‘Keep an eye on this guy’. Now he is in the England squad, a quality player.”
Congratulations to @AdamRadwan97 on winning @premrugby player of the month ?
We spoke to Adam last week on All Access with Jim Hamilton ??https://t.co/86gBVy18Yo pic.twitter.com/yT1iAgEFbY
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 14, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
We had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getitng to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
57 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
57 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
57 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
57 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
57 Go to comments