"He's a Legend" – Pat Lam: Bristol coach delighted with Kieran Marmion as scrum half shines against former Bears man Andy Uren in Benetton win
Yesterday at 11:47 AM
A stand out player for Bristol Bears in yesterday evening’s win against Benetton, was Irish scrum half Kieran Marmion. The halfback crossed over for two tries against the Italian side, with Bristol Director of Rugby Pat Lam hailing Marmion as a legend amongst his teammates. Marmion arrived at Ashton Gate mid-way through the 2023/24 season, as a replacement signing for stalwart scrum half Andy Uren.
In an interesting case of rugby coming full circle, Marmion squared off against Uren in Sunday’s Investec Champions Cup clash at Ashton Gate, which saw Bristol scrape a 35-29 victory for a successful third round. Lam spoke about Marmion’s impressive contributions to Bristol since joining the club, with brace scoring performance against Benetton being a classic example of his talents. The Bristol boss was then gate-crashed by his former player Uren in the media centre, which evoked quite the entertaining response.
“He’s a legend here. Off the field, the boys love him, and he’s so experienced. And when you have Harry Randall and have Karen Marmion, that’s two quality nines. Then you had this guy! (Andy Uren entered), so I had to replace this guy first off the back of that.
“His (Marmion) rugby, at his age, is just getting better and better and with Harry involved and going in and out from England, then you need someone to step in, particularly since Andy’s got off to Benetton, that has that experience. That’s what we’ve always had. I’ve always wanted to have at least two experienced nines that can start anytime, and then you have the other boys coming behind to plug if we have any injuries address.”
Whilst Marmion and Uren were too players who lit up the chilly Ashton Gate evening, there were a handful of Bristol players who succumbed to injuries throughout the physical contest. Beginning with England hopeful lock Joe Batley, the second row limped off the pitch after just seven minutes of play, and was later seen with a supportive boot due to picking up an ankle injury. Lam rallied off the additional injuries to his side, with plenty of his players feeling the effects of the Benetton test.
“Unfortunately, we started to pick up a few injuries. Harry Byrnes, both his calves were both cramping, and so we took him off as precaution. And we got to remember 35 minutes last week, that’s his longest bit of rugby he’s had since June or May last year. So he’s building that up, but he could see the difference when we lose a specialist 10, a quality and experienced 10.
“Then we had to put Kieran Marmion back on with Jack Bates and his ankle when he got croc rolled. So we had to put Marmion into there. We had to put (Benjamin) Elizalde into center, he hasn’t played or trained there all this year. And so we’re a little bit disjointed, and they took advantage of that. But we hung in there. We hung in there. We found the way and and got the five (points) so, yeah, that probably sums it up.”
The win against Benetton was Bristol’s first of their Champions Cup campaign, as the Bears prop up the bottom of Pool 2, with just one win from three rounds. The Bears fell to European heavyweights Leinster and La Rochelle in their first two rounds of the competition, with the progression places into the knock-out rounds quite the long shot for the Champions Cup. However a bonus point win against Clermont Auvergne and favourable results elsewhere could see Lam’s side fulfill their aim of a prolonged European stint.
“We’re growing as a group. And the aim to get out of January is to be in European rugby come April, which is what next week will determine. So it’s right in front of us, the aim. Then we get one more week in the Premiership against Newcastle, and we’re in second, to consolidate second. So then, rather than where we started after the (2024) Six Nations in eighth and having a big run, we start in second place. So everything’s about getting ourselves into the positions when it really counts.”
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