Pressure is all on Bristol as Welch returns

HEAD coach Dave Walder says the pressure is on Bristol Bears to entertain a bumper home crowd tomorrow as Newcastle Falcons arrive at Ashton Gate with the expressed intention of crashing the Premiership party.

The Falcons have won two of their last three in the league and took a losing bonus point against third-placed Gloucester - and Walder’s men are keen to extend a run against Bristol which has seen just one defeat in their last six.

Walder, the former England fly-half who was a Premiership and Heineken Cup winner as a player, said: “The onus is on them with it being a home match.

“They are the ones who have to entertain and we are just there to win a game.

“If we play in the right areas, put pressure on their skills and force turnovers in the right zones, we can cause them a lot of problems.

“It will be a near full house down there on Sunday, the place will be bouncing and the nature of the way that Bristol play the game means it should be an exciting one.

“Eyebrows were raised at how much money Bristol spent in the Championship last season, but it is great from a rugby point of view to have such a competitive team coming into the Premiership.”

Keen for the Falcons to bounce back from the late defeat by Gloucester, Walder said: “Too often this season we have been saying ‘could have won’ or ‘should have won’ and we need to be turning those performances into results.

“We were disappointed because we dominated and controlled large parts of the game against a very good Gloucester side - but we didn’t take our opportunities.

“They punished us for our mistakes and we let them off the hook on a few occasions.

“We had four penalties in their 22 and came away with 12 points, whereas they had two penalties in ours and came away with two tries.

“The difference for us is being ruthless and turning those opportunities into tries rather than three points, but it has gone now and we have to look forward.”

Buoyed by the return of captain Will Welch after almost three months out with an ankle injury, the head coach added: “It is great to have Welchy back - firstly from a leadership point of view but then secondly for what he offers from a pure playing perspective.

“The way rugby is means you get some back and you lose some within the same breath but it is the same for every team.”