The 'miss you' Ben Earl tweet that Bristol had to quickly clarify
The Bristol Bears social media team were in overdrive this week, excelling with its coverage of the club’s signing of Max Malins for the 2023/24 season but getting into a small bit of bother for a teasing follow-up post regarding Ben Earl.
Malins and Earl were two big additions to the Bristol roster when the game in England restarted in August 2020 following the lockdown earlier that year. Saracens decided to allow the pair to head to Ashton Gate on loan so that they could continue their development playing Gallagher Premiership rugby at a time when the London club had dropped down to the Championship.
During their stay, they helped Bristol to top the Premiership table at the end of the 202-/21 regular season while also playing their part in helping the Bears to win the final of the delayed 2019/20 European Challenge Cup before they rejoined Saracens for the 2021/22 season.
It was this week – Tuesday 6pm to be precise – when Bristol published a snazzy, humorous video that confirmed Malins would be re-joining Pat Lam team’s next season from Saracens and they followed it shortly afterwards with a post directed at Earl, whom they had holding a picture of him with Malins and Harry Randall. “Hey, Ben Earl,” it said with a waving hand emoji. “Miss you x.”
The variety of responses came thick and fast. “Don’t tease us like this”. “Er…you already have one – be satisfied”. “Holy fooking shirt if this happened I’d throw up”. “Do it I beg you”. “That would be epic”. “Make my year”. “Vui and Heenan looking at this like”. “Great effort, but no chance lads. Earl will be with Saracens for years to come.”
Guys, it's a joke, relax ? https://t.co/lIyL2dNEUq
— Bristol Bears ? (@BristolBears) October 4, 2022
With so many people thinking the Bristol post suggested that Earl could also be joining Malins in signing for the Bears, the club soon posted a follow-up message to clarify the situation. “Guys, it’s a joke, relax,” it stated with a laughing face emoji.
This social media posting aside, director of rugby Lam was in his element at his midweek media briefing, trumpeting his capture of Malins by revealing it was a deal done very quickly. “We are delighted. He fitted in very well with us on and off the field and the whole club, players, staff and fans, everyone is excited that he is coming back for next season.
“That was the success of the loan, that he came and enjoyed himself. It was a conversation that was pretty simple really. I didn’t have to do all the little bits and pieces beforehand, it was just we both agreed I was keen for him to come. He was keen to come and done, it was probably one of the quickest ones. I normally meet players before. I didn’t need to (on this occasion). It was just a case of thumbs up from both parties and deal done.”
Asked where he sees Malins fitting into the Bristol backline, Lam sounded like a kid in the sweet shop. “Full-back, wing, ten, twelve. At the end of the day he has shown his versatility and he knows our game well and will have a big impact.
“He will carry on where he was before. He knows the game well. His quality on reading and timing, the quality of pictures and timing, it’s something he did very well for us and we are keen to continue that.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments