by Earlier this season, Nigel Pearson was sacked as Bristol City manager after a run of two wins in seven games. Pat Lam’s Bristol Bears, who share the same ownership as City, are currently on a run of two wins in seven games going into a derby against Gloucester that has a lot more riding on it than bragging rights.
The seven-year contract extension Lam signed in 2021 gives him some degree of protection but Telegraph Sport understands there is growing unease within Bristol’s senior hierarchy. If Lam is feeling the pressure, he doesn’t show it as he patiently explains the missed opportunities in his current five game run.
But this campaign does not look like an outlier with the Bears falling far short of Lam’s own goals in the past two seasons which include winning the Premiership and reaching the Champions Cup final. Instead they finished 10th and ninth respectively.
In 2017 when Lam arrived from Connacht, where he won the PRO12, he outlined a five-year plan which culminated in the English champions. For the first three years, they exceeded those expectations: gaining promotion from the Championship, consolidating their place in the Premier League, winning the 2020 Challenge Cup before finishing top of the league in 2021.
Then it all fell apart within a single game, losing their 2021 home semi-final to Harlequins after leading 28-0. It counts as one of rugby’s biggest implosions and Bristol has been the same team since.
Lam, however, advances another explanation. “I think the biggest factor is that Covid hit,” Lam said. “We look at Covid now and it’s like looking at the second world war, but we made decisions in the context of that time.” In the summer of 2020 when clubs agreed to reduce the salary cap to £5 million, there was a loophole where existing contracts would only count 75 per cent towards the cap. Bristol signed their squad en masse, which Lam says has limited his ability to develop his squad.
“At the time it was the right decision,” Lam said. “But looking back now, you say that’s not really what we should have done. So we’re coming out of that now in the sense that this is the last year of those bilateral contracts. We’re definitely excited about next year as we’re looking to rebuild the team and the salary cap going back.”
Lam’s other major frustration is that clubs can only recruit players for their academies within predetermined geographical boundaries which he believes hinders Bristol. “If you look at the under 18s and under 20s I’m told you’ve got this region and that region,” said Lam. “I answer by saying that we don’t need land. If you look at a map of where the top players come from and all the schools with the best rugby programs, we have one. [school]. The others are all in London and the Midlands so those clubs have plenty of talent to choose from.”
This is likely to be addressed in the new Professional Game Partnership between Premiership Rugby and the Rugby Players’ Association with the introduction of a draft system.
However it is difficult to reconcile Lam’s complaints with the fact that Bristol are one of the highest spenders within the salary cap as well as boasting the biggest stadium and best training facilities in the Premier League.
There is much to admire about Lam, who was raised by his father from a kitchen hand to become one of New Zealand’s leading pastry chefs. His bravery as a stuff player is the stuff of legend and the PRO12 win with Connacht in 2016 is one of the great Cinderella stories. But there is no middle ground with Lam: it’s either his way or the highway.
Lam has a tactical template that specifies what each player needs to do from minute one to 80. When Bristol lose, it’s because the players weren’t following the “system” as usual.
Many players left under a cloud including highly-rated second-stringer Alex Groves to Sale and winger Andy Uren for Treviso in the same season in which he signed a three-year deal. Further discontent is brewing in the dressing room with England prop Kyle Sinckler likely to leave at the end of the season.
But Lam is adamant that his original vision of Premier League titles and more European glory can still be achieved after a break due to Covid. “The expectation increased during the first three years and then we had a hit when Covid came in for all the reasons I talked about,” Lam said. “Now we want to win trophies and everything we are working towards is based on that.”
He argues that the board is coming to terms with its reasoning. However, beating rivals Gloucester would end their play-off aspirations for another season and Lam will know that billionaires like Steve Lansdown are not the most patient of individuals. Just ask Pearson.
