Pat Lam admitted he left his calm persona at the door of the Bath changing rooms at half time as he gave an emotional team talk to fire up his side to come from behind and win at the Recreation Ground on Friday night.
Bristol, who started the weekend ninth in the table, still have eyes on making an odds-defying run for the top four, and at the bare minimum securing Champions Cup rugby for next season after spending this year competing in the Challenge Cup.
Being ‘A Champions Cup team’ is so big a part of Lam’s vision for the club that is emblazoned on the wall at Bristol’s High Performance Training Centre.
There were only flashes of high-quality moments during Friday night’s 15-13 win away at derby rivals Bath, with departing superstar Semi Radradra iinstrumental in both tries, but it was enough to just about get the job done, albeit with the help of errorsome goal kicking from Bath fly-half Piers Francis who missed three kicks from the tee.
Lam said: “Normally we just talk through our plan at half time, get his done, get that done, it is pretty calm. But this is one of them I wanted to know, and be reminded, this is our season on the line now. If we lose this game we are done. It was about going out and being intentional becase the first ten minutes after half time has been our worst period this season, we are getting better.
“I said we need to score next and we did.
“Sitting in the stands it gave me a lot of pride to see them score and do exactly that.”
Radradra, who was named man of the match picked up his second assist of the night having offload to James Williams in the first half, fizzed a wide miss-pass into the arms of Siva Naulago who stepped in to out to leave Matt Gallagher clutching at air and the wniger then had the pace to touch down in the corner despite the best efforts of Tom de Glanville.
That score proved vital as Lam celebrated an ugly but meaningful win. Had the balance of the contest tipped the other way, post match there would have been questions about the officiating of referee Matthew Carley who incorrectly scrubbed off a try for Harry Thacker. But for now Lam was content with the four points. He said: “The win is the only thing that counts in the Premiership. You can play well or you can play poorly, the only thing that counts is the result. Especially in a derby. Form doesn’t matter in this game, it is just about fighting, competing and staying in it.
“This result has given us big momentumn and we have put ourselves right into the hunt now.
"We can’t control what any other team does. The competition is really close. All we can control is what we do in this block of four games. If we win these four we will 100 percent end up in that Champions Cup territory in the top eight and then depending on how everything else goes we will have four games left to go. It just sets us up nicely.
"But for now all that matters in the next game, we are two from two and we have a big challenge at home next Friday against Northampton but we are excited to be at home.
"Saints are a tough proposition but they want to play rugby and it is going to be a cracker. I have already looked at the forecast and it is looking good.”
Lam also confirmed Steve Luatua is set to return next weekend having missed the derby game not with an injury but for ‘personal family reasons’ in another boost with Lam delighted at finally being able to get all his best players out on the pitch, fielding the holy trinity of Charles Piutua, Radradra and Naulago together for only the second time.
Lam added: “I love this time of year. We are heading into the warmer months and rugby just goes to another level. We are getting all the big guys back at the right time and it really makes a difference to our team and what we are trying to do.”
