Something is wrong in Bear country. Hercule Poirot himself would find it difficult to solve the riddle of the disappearance of the Bears team from last season.
Weeks ago following four fairly comprehensive back-to-back victories it felt like our season had turned a corner in the right direction. Even the London Irish game balanced on fine margins and was another winnable encounter if we had taken our chances.
The Worcester performance, however, was certainly a step backwards and raises a lot of questions that need to be answered.
For me, the most frustrating thing is our consistency to be inconsistent. Yet again we coughed up ball in crucial areas and at critical times, constant turnovers are disrupting everything we attempt to do, individual errors are frequent but it is perhaps our inability to be clinical in the red zone that has hurt us most of all.
There is no doubt the commitment from the players on the pitch. Week-in, week-out they give 100 per cent effort and dedication, so where are things going wrong at Ashton Gate?
I’m sure this will upset some supporters, but for me, we have to start looking at the very top. Since Pat Lam arrived in BS3 he has spoken about "the Bears Way", that has certainly been entertaining and we have been lucky as fans to watch some incredible running rugby.
But have we become so fixated on the Bears Way that we have lost our ability to have a solid back-up plan if that fails? Other teams have evolved massively from last season yet we still seem to be stuck in a chasm.
We constantly hear about taking "learnings" from defeat, but when are they actually going to be put into practice? Why are the messages not filtering into the players and onto the pitch? Maybe we need the little Belgian detective with the funny moustache to find his way to Failand to provide the answers?
This may be a new era for Bristol Bears but this week we lost a key figure in our history with the passing of Malcolm Pearce. Without his vast investment in the late 90s we would not have a top-flight team to support today. Our condolences go out to the Pearce family at this sad time.
