by At the end of 2023, Pat Lam’s circus of great entertainers briefly left Bristol. Now the show has returned with a bang. After a brief identity crisis, the Bears have found themselves on and off the pitch and are leading the fifth round of Premiership play.
“We used to run to the theme tune from The Greatest Showman,” Tom Tainton, Bristol’s chief operating officer, tells Mail Sport. “That was very Bears, wasn’t it?”
In fact it was. And perhaps now is the time for Bristol to bring back the classic from the beloved Hugh Jackman film, as the first four rounds of the 2024-25 English club rugby season see Bristol putting on the biggest show in the Premier League.
Last Saturday at Exeter’s Sandy Park, Lam’s side scored 28 points in the final 14 minutes to overturn a 20-point deficit and complete a remarkable comeback. Red-hot winger Gabriel Ibitoye scored a hat-trick in nine minutes.
It encapsulated the fearless approach to attack that is now back in Bristol’s DNA. With three wins and one defeat – with a bonus point from four tries in each game – the Bears sit top of the table so far this season and host second-placed Saracens at Ashton Gate on Saturday.
Bristol play in the Gallagher Premiership and have won three of their first four games
Rugby director Pat Lam (pictured) has got his Bears side back to top form
Bristol winger Gabriel Obitoye (pictured) scored a stunning hat-trick in nine minutes last weekend
“Entertainment is fundamental to everything we do in Bristol,” says Tainton. “We’re trying to play an expansive game with a young team. “We want people to come to our games and see Bristol as a team that is successful and plays proper rugby, but also as a leader off the field.
“One of Bristol Sport’s values is to be outsiders.” When we discuss new ideas, we talk about whether they are idiosyncratic or innovative. Is it something no one has done before? Credit goes to Pat because we couldn’t operate by this mantra if what we served on the field was a kick-fest.
“We want people to watch and think, ‘God, this is exciting.’ We’re here to win trophies and we want to inspire our community through it.
“But for us it’s also about developing the sport by supporting young players.” It’s critical. If we wake up in five years and go through the same routine as rugby, we will have missed a huge opportunity.
“I would like to think we are everyone’s second favorite team because we try to do things differently.”
Bristol achieved that in this campaign. Their adventurous approach is not necessarily new. But it was reborn after a hiatus at the turn of the year when director of rugby Lam said he changed direction. The Bears have gotten back to type since March and have reaped the rewards.
Bristol, with all its attacking style, is becoming rugby fans’ favorite second team
They can cause problems from anywhere and scored the most tries in the league last season
“I’m not myself anymore,” Lam admits. “The way a team plays depends on the coach.” The way I want to play is to attack. If it’s on, it’s on. I want my team to be fearless. Having been at this club for a while, particularly losing the semi-final to Harlequins in 2021, take a look at things. I started to wonder if we should play differently.
“In the last two years there have been a lot of statistics that show that if you kick more you win more games.” That seduced us.
“I was recently looking back at our game against Exeter last Christmas. It was terrible. We had a full house and the amount of kicking we did was ridiculous. In January we were beaten by Connacht and they played like us.
“That was the biggest disappointment.” “We simplified things and went back to what we do best – being fearless.”
Now we may be seeing Bristol 2.0. During the break for the 2024 Six Nations, Lam reset the machine. When international action ended, the Bears came out and beat eventual champions Northampton 62-8. From there they went on a remarkable run, narrowly missing out on a play-off spot.
“Last season we scored the most tries in the Premiership,” says Lam. “But we only played well for half the season. If your team has the most tries but doesn’t have the best try scorer, that’s huge. That’s the kind of statistic I’m looking for.
“I 100 percent wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe we could win trophies with a game like that. “We’ve had a lot of challenges over the last two years but we’ve overcome them.
“This is the way forward for us.” We are in a business that needs an entertainment factor. I get contacted by a lot of people telling me they love the way we play. We want to win, but we want to do it in an entertaining way and that will also help us fulfill our responsibility to develop the game.
Bristol have gone from strength to strength after narrowly missing out on the play-offs last season
Lam believes his swashbuckling side are fully capable of going on and winning trophies
“Everyone in this club is convinced of our style of play. Sometimes you have to try different things and we did, but that wasn’t our opinion and it reinforced our belief that this is the right path.”
Bristol’s poor results at the turn of the year – coupled with the move away from traditional approach – meant that Lam’s position was in jeopardy.
Billionaire Steve Lansdown was not happy with the product. But everything has been rosy in the Bristol garden since the game against Northampton.
This summer, Lam reshuffled his squad. It is now more youthful and smaller. Bristol have the option to spend up to the Premiership salary cap but are choosing not to in order to be more financially stable. There is an admission that they cannot rely on Lansdown’s money forever.
Bristol’s recruitment goes hand in hand with their style of play. Bristol’s squad has fewer superstars than in previous years, but they are always interested in a big-name signing who could add more bums to the pitch. They expressed interest in Harlequins’ English full-back Marcus Smith.
Lam’s men’s team was visited this week by Olympic swimmer Adam Peaty, who instilled his winning mentality in the players. Both Bristol teams train alongside each other.
Bristol’s players and staff all eat together at their state-of-the-art training facility, just a stone’s throw from Championship football team Bristol City’s base. Both clubs are part of the Bristol Sport Group, owned by Lansdown. Just a few weeks ago, Lam had dinner with City boss Liam Manning.
All the food served at Bristol’s rugby base comes from within a five-mile radius. On the day Mail Sport visited, fried cod loin and oysters were on the menu. Bristol players can relax in their team room on a hammock as well as table tennis and pool tables. The club’s bold rugby and marketing strategies appear to be working.
Olympic champion Adam Peaty visited the training ground in Bristol earlier this week
He showed off one of his Olympic gold medals and gave a speech to the players in the state-of-the-art facilities
As the sport fights for its place in the British sporting landscape, visitor numbers in Bristol are increasing, attracting a younger, more diverse audience. In May they will bring a Premiership game to Wales for the first time, another ‘underdog’ idea. Bristol – which renamed itself the Bears in 2018 – has already sold 20,000 tickets for this game at Principality Stadium.
“It could be something special and a great showcase for the Premiership,” says Tainton, who took inspiration for Bristol’s travel direction from trips to the United States to watch Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball. “We want to make it the best day Bristol has ever had in entertainment.” When we come up with a credible business idea, we want to explore it. “It could be overseas, but we haven’t exhausted our own patch yet.”
Bristol are now back on track and judging by their exciting season so far, the future looks anything but boring. The show continues on Saturday against Saracens in an exciting clash of different playing styles. Whatever happens, Bristol is no longer in favor of a change.
