Lam sends Genge strict message after swift return to Bristol from Six Nations

Bristol Bears boss Pat Lam won’t have his three Six Nations stars, Ellis Genge, Louis Rees-Zammit and Tom Jordan for Sunday’s trip to Leicester Tigers after sending them on a holiday with one simple request: “Stay out of the Middle East.”

Tighthead Genge started all five of England’s games, while Rees-Zammit didn’t miss a minute of Wales’ five games, and Jordan started Scotland’s first two games against Italy and England before coming off the bench in the final three.

Lam was faced with his internationals missing one of the next three weeks, so he will have them back for the Bears’ Big Day Out against Harlequins, and then their Investec Champions Cup clash with Toulouse.

“I’ve been there as a player at international level, and it’s not just the physical load, it’s the mental load of day in day out hotels, being away from families, coming and going.

“So, I just said get away and be with your loved ones. Then, as they come back, we’ll get a fresher, better vision of those three players. I told them to go straight on holiday after their international matches.

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“But stay away from the Middle East, obviously. You know, next week, we’ve got a short turnaround. We got our big day out. They’ll be back for that. But everyone else has been focusing on Leicester,” he said.

Lam says that Genge offered to play this weekend and was even doing gym work on Tuesday before jetting off for his family break.

“Funny enough, he rocked up on Tuesday and had lunch. I just did the team meeting, and I walked down, I looked down, he’s in the gym, and he looked up, smiled, so I went down, had a quick chat and had a hug, and a good chat.

“He’ll always say he’s ready, but I just believe, just give him the time, give him the time to refresh, and we’ll get the better version of him next week and for the rest of the season,” added Lam.

Lam also confirmed that he sees Rees-Zammit’s long-term future at full-back, a position he has occupied for both club and country since the trip to Harlequins just before Christmas.

“Zam’s just getting more and more comfortable at full-back. Yes, 100 per cent, I see him in that position. I had a good chat with Steve Tandy on Tuesday, who gave me some good feedback on what they were working on with him. A lot of people try to tell me, I don’t know what I’m doing over. So, I don’t tend to worry about it.

“I think the biggest thing is that you have a job description of what you want, and one thing that both Steve and I recognise is his talent, but we’re conscious, there’s no point having that if we’re not using it.”