Lam delighted as Bears win derby

Bristol dominate second half at Kingsholm to triumph 33-24 against West rivals

BRISTOL Bears boss Pat Lam praised his side’s fighting spirit as they came from behind to record a fourth successive victory in the Gallagher Premiership with a 33-24 win away to Gloucester.

Second-half scores from Magnus Bradbury and Benhard Janse van Rensburg proved decisive as the Bears kept alive their hopes of getting among the play-off places with just four rounds of the regular season remaining.

Lam, however, was refusing to get too carried away, insisting the focus is on the game against Newcastle Falcons next and nothing more.

“I’m really pleased with the boys,” said Lam, right. “We came in at half-time and I said ‘Boys, you’re not far off’. We had gifted them three tries and the message was not to give them any more points and just keep coming at them. In the second half, the boys just kept coming.”

Having trailed 24-19 at the break, the Bears dominated virtually the whole of the second half and they were duly rewarded for their efforts with all five points.

“It’s not about the Premiership, it’s * about our performance,” added Lam. “When we came back from the (Six Nations) break the whole focus was on (Northampton) Saints. Once we did that, I said it’s about Gloucester. Now, our only concern is Newcastle in two weeks’ time.

“We looked at it, there’s six internationals for us, so we’ve done two Test matches, now we’ve got a third one and that’s our only concern.”

Bristol’s win lifts them to sixth in the standings, while Gloucester, who sit ninth, have much work to do to reach the Champions Cup places.