Leinster Rugby, Jordie Barrett and Ilona Maher all contribute to one chaotic week for Pat Lam's Bristol Bears

12/07/2024 11:11 AM

Bristol Bears Director of Rugby, Pat Lam, expressed his delight in the fact that his side are playing the worlds best in the Champions Cup. After a remarkable start to the Premiership season, winning five games out of seven, the Bears host a star-studded Leinster side at Ashton Gate

Their Irish opponents have reached the final of the competition on the last three occasions and despite losing all of them, have lifted the prestigious trophy four times.

In contrast, Bristol have only played in the competition for four seasons in their entire history but are looking to upset the historically successful teams this term.

The test of Leinster

The test that Leinster pose is incredible, with a squad full of international pedigree players in contention to play on Sunday afternoon.

2022 Men's Player of the Year, Josh van der Flier, Irish captain, Caelen Dorris and outside centre Garry Ringrose are just three examples of the world class players that Leo Cullen has at his disposal.

When considering the strength of his opposition, Lam said:

"This is as good as it gets, the Champions Cup is where we have aspired to be since the first day I arrived here, playing against a club with an unbelievable history and four stars on their jersey.

"Leinster don't only have world class players; they also have a brilliant coaching setup with so much quality coming through so this is exactly the kind of rugby that we want to be involved with.

"At the moment we are probably the best prepared we have been for a Champions Cup, in the sense that we are in good form, we have had a lot of young guys step up and that collective effort is what rugby is all about.

"Despite the challenge of Leinster we still have a good chance."

Jordie Barrett debut

Another world class player that could feature for the visitors is their new All Black, Jordie Barrett.

The 67-capped New Zealander has been named on the bench for Leinster, with the potential of making his debut for the Dublin outfit.

In preparation for facing the 27-year-old, Lam said:

"The signing of Barrett brings into focus the quality of Leinster, when they have so many world class players and they bring in someone else with the quality that he has it just emphasises that challenge that we face.

"The team that we are up against are the biggest supplier for the Irish national team and they are battle hardened having played three or four test matches over the last month.

"You then bring in Barrett who is a world class player and someone like RG Snyman, a world champion and you see why they are one of the best teams in Europe.  But if you want to be the best you need to be able to compete and beat sides like Leinster.

The signing of Ilona Maher for the Bristol Bears Women

Similarly to Barrett but in the women's game, Ilona Maher has signed a short term contract to play rugby in Europe, but specifically with Bristol.

The American rugby 7's star will join the Bears with immediate effect, providing the club with benefits both on and off the pitch.

Maher has 4.6 million followers on Instagram and has already had a profound impact on the Bristol Bears brand, bringing eyes to the West Country club from all over the world.

Lam said: "It's an absolutely brilliant signing, we all know about her following and what she has done in the Olympics and on 'Dancing With The Stars', but I didn't realise how big it was until my daughter sent me a text from school and asked if she was coming.

"She said all her friends, who aren't into rugby at all, were talking about it which just shows how much Maher is doing for the sport.

"The signing is brilliant as it puts the spotlight on not only our club but certainly on our women's team, the PWR and our game which is really good."

Bristol's attacking system that has led to their success

Saracens, Mark McCall, is just one coach who has been full of praise for Bristol Bears' unique style of attacking rugby this season but after the 48-24 hammering of title contenders, Harlequins, the 'Bears way' seems to improve every week.

Not only their recent results, but also the number of try of the season contenders that Bristol have scored this season is remarkable.

Lam hailed his sides work in training as the primary factor for their success so far.

"My game is all based on a framework but to be able to function as a part of that you need to have really good skills so we do a lot of skill sessions in the week.

"We look at types of passes, ball skills, footwork, the way that boys carry and present the ball all the way up to the scrum, making sure to cover all the basics of the game.

"The passing stuff is interesting though because there is a lot of variety, I need everyone in the team to be comfortable running straight and passing left and right which sounds simple but there are a lot of guys who can't do it.

"So when you see AJ MacGinty straighten up and put Benhard Janse van Rensburg through a gap it all comes down to players like Joe Owen running straight and passing accurately to create space and overlaps.

"All the handling skills and attacking structure stuff is trained every single day and that is why it works so well."

How Champions Cup is bigger than the Premiership and why it means more

A final interesting point that the Samoan DOR made was the emphasis that he puts on the European competition over the Gallagher Premiership.

He said: "I have been blessed to win the Premiership and the European Cup as a player and taking from that experience they were both enjoyable but the Premiership was only noted by the English whereas the European Cup had worldwide prestige.

"Because of that added interest the stakes are a lot higher and your reputation as a club can be made or lost in that competition.

"That is why it was such a big deal for us to qualify for the competition, to grow our reputation as a rugby club; ultimately, you have to constantly perform on the biggest stage to be known as one of the biggest clubs."

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