Rugby Winning the Challenge Cup is all part of Lam’s long-term plan
IT is knockout rugby from here on out for Bristol Bears if they are going to compete for two pieces of silverware come the end of the season.
On Friday, Pat Lam’s side host Pro14 outfit the Dragons in the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup, having gone unbeaten in the pool stages, which included wins over Stade Francais, Brive and Zebre on their own grounds.
Now the Bears’ director of rugby has his strongest available side, full of superstars like Semi Radradra, Charles Piutau and Kyle Sinckler, who were all rested from the 59-35 defeat to Wasps on Sunday.
Back in August, 2019, Lam set out his goals to see Bristol secure Heineken Champions Cup rugby in 2020-21 and to win the Challenge Cup, having been knocked out at the quarter-final stages in 2018-19 at La Rochelle, who went on to reach the final in Newcastle before losing to Clermont.
The Bears are guaranteed to finish no lower than fifth in the Gallagher Premiership so the first part of his mission statement has been fulfilled. Now for Europe and a first chance to earn the club significant silverware for 27 years.
Lam said: “We are alive in the Premiership and we are alive in Europe but there is no second chance this week, we lose this week and we are out.
“We go into competitions to win competitions, we go into games to win games. Of course there is no guarantee but you prepare that way. Once we set a goal it is my responsibility to ensure we do everything
Pat Lam at Bristol’s training session on Monday we can to achieve those goals.
“This competition is massive. People might say it’s not the Champions Cup, it is still a trophy, it is still a competition and something we respect and are trying our best to win.”
Lam also suggested that winning the Challenge Cup and being involved in knockout rugby, or ‘finals rugby’ as he calls it will help develop his squad for when the club move on to bigger and even tougher challenges in the future.
He said: “The Challenge Cup is important because I said when we started the season, this is not just about this season.
“We are building something which is sustainable and longterm.
“The most important thing here is, and sometimes people criticised us for putting full strength teams out in Europe, we are in practice for being a Champions Cup team. We have qualified for the Champions Cup now.
“The big thing for us is I don’t want to make the mistake some teams have in the past and just get to the Champions Cup and suddenly discover it is too tough. We are training all our guys how to manage Premiership and Challenge Cup rugby. This is a dress rehearsal for us.”
Lam said his side are energised for the contest on Friday night and is asking his squad to step up a level against a Dragons side which contains the likes of former British and Irish Lions Jamie Roberts, Ross Moriarty and Wales internationals Sam Davies, Nick Tompkins and Jonah Holmes.
Lam said yesterday: “We are pumped, we had a great training session on Monday, minus the guys who had to play on Sunday.
“It was a pretty intense session, everyone is excited for quarterfinals rugby.
“We have worked hard to get a home quarter-final and excitement is the word for it.”