Lam keen to see a real ‘team performance’ from his Bears

PAT Lam has put the emphasis on a “team performance” as his side gear up for their Gallagher Premiership clash with Newcastle Falcons at Ashton Gate today.

The Bears fought back to claim a bonus-point victory over Harlequins at The Stoop in round four, with Lam admitting to being disappointed with his side’s first-half display.

But the director of rugby, pictured, who also hailed his side’s second-half resurgence, said the focus this week was on playing “the Bears way”.

“We made it clear after the game that we were so much better in the second half once we switched into team, and we, and the Bears way, and boys did well, they came back and got the job done,” he said.

“You’ve got to remember, it’s been 19 years since we won at The Stoop against Quins, so it was a huge effort. But we also took a lot of learnings – we spoke about it as a whole club today, staff and players, around making sure it’s always ‘team versus me.’”

The Bears welcome an unbeaten Falcons to BS3 today, with Dean Richards’ newly-promoted side sitting second in the Gallagher Premiership table – and Lam says they are aware of the challenge they face.

“I’m looking forward to it. The last time we were at Ashton Gate against Clermont, we were pretty disappointed with our performance, so going back now against Newcastle, who are above us - and with these next two games playing against second and first - it’s a big few weeks for us as a club.

“It’s our only home game in this stretch of three Premiership games and we want to give a really good account of ourselves, take the lessons that we learned in that first 40 minutes (against Quins) and make sure we start much better and really go for it.

“There’s no doubt there’s some experience in that Newcastle side, with Toby Flood and Micky Young controlling it really well, but ultimately they play well together, they work hard, and Dean Richards is a very good coach, a very experienced coach, and they’ve got clarity on the way they want to play.

“It’s a great challenge for us, but the focus is on us being us, and if we do that, it’ll give us the best chance of getting the victory at home.”