Pat Lam believes this first block of pre-season training is a pivotal point in the Bristol Bears’ season as the club look to mend some of the mistakes made in 2021/22.
Bristol went from table toppers in 2020/21 to finishing 10th the following year and after a lengthy and in depth review Lam has made a series of adjustments.
Despite training being highly populated with academy and U18s players in recent weeks with the likes of Harry Randall, Sam Jeffries, Charles Piutau and Chris Vui away on international duty, Kyle Sinckler still returning to full fitness following his back niggles, and the likes of Semi Radradra and Siva Naulago - who are both recovering from knee operations - back in their native Fiji, Lam has heralded the importance of the work being done.
Speaking to Bristol Live, he said: “It is a crucial time because one of our goals is to bridge the gap between first choice and second choice, and third choice.
“When you look at the first nine rounds of the Premiership without a break, and we saw last year eight different half backs week after week, after week. I hope that was a rarity and it doesn’t happen again but you have to be prepared for it.
“We have had a lot of academy guys in and new players, and we have got to bridge their gap to the senior players in terms of their knowledge of the Bears game and relationships as well.”
Bristol’s season was certainly derailed in part last year by an extensive injury list that highlighted the gamble Lam took with his recruitment, using the funds available to him within the salary cap to spend big on star players but then look for bargains as back-up behind them.
When the stars got injured, and so many of them did in 2021/22, the understudies collectively struggled to get the job done on a consistent basis.
Lam added: “You are going to need everybody throughout the season and this first block of pre-season has been great, especially for the academy boys because they have been challenged by the coaches and senior players.
“I think we are seeing the fruits of the realignment of our academy.
“There are 10 boys from our U18s side from last season [who were crowned national champions at the Academies Final day] training with us at the moment and the quality of players is completely different from when I first got here, and that is great.
“They are very early in their development and their Bears careers but that alignment of what they do in the U18s group with the senior group has made that transition so much smoother.
“A lot of the senior players have commented about the quality of the players coming through. It was always our intention to have that conveyer belt of homegrown players coming through and we are starting to get that.”
After being one of the poster boys for World Rugby’s new policy to allow players to represent a second international country, if they qualify by birthright and have not represented their previous country for three years, Piutau has now returned to Bristol after making just one appearance for Tonga in the Pacific Nations Cup.
Speaking on Monday, Lam said: “Charles is back now which is good and the others will slowly start heading back. Chris Vui had a tremendously successful time with Samoa winning the PNC; talking to Seilala Mapusua [Samoan head coach] he said Chris was a really big part, and a leader, of that team.”
Discussing some of the other tweaks that have been made, Lam explained: "We have really looked at all the available coaching time, if not with the big group then the smaller unit groups, we are making the most of that time to go back to our ethos right when I first arrived here to get our basics and fundamentals done really well.
"The good thing is the players who have been here a while are taking a lot of responsibility and are driving those standards as well.
"Our game is only as good as the fundamentals being done really well so we have really gone back and looked at that and made sure the work that needs to done there has been."
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