League’s ‘most valuable player’ inspiring Bears in play-off push

Steven Luatua’s leadership, intelligence and willingness to ‘put head in dark places’ has Bristol dreaming of glory

There are several ways to interrogate the worth of a player, as Premiership bosses will have been doing with particular scrutiny over recent months, ahead of a season in which the salary cap is due to rise again.

You can dig into data; even immerse yourself in algorithms and artificial intelligence. You can gather testimonies of team-mates, to find out about less tangible qualities such as calm leadership. Whatever the metrics, Pat Lam knows he has a gem in Steven Luatua.

Even as Bristol Bears reset their spending strategy, bidding farewell to stalwarts such as Ed Holmes, Dan Thomas, Callum Sheedy and Piers O’Conor, it was easy to justify Luatua’s contract extension. Seven years after Lam embarked on his current role and made Luatua his “number one” signing, the latter has been among the most valuable players in the Premiership this season.

Of the 10 league matches Luatua has featured in, Bristol have won nine. Eroni Mawi, the Saracens loosehead prop, boasts the same record, though he has only two starts to Luatua’s nine. And while AJ MacGinty is another influential Bear, recording seven wins from his seven Premiership games in 202425, Luatua is crucial. Without him between September and December because of a calf issue, Bears lost five out of six in the Premiership.

“His biggest value is that I’ve never, ever seen Stevie go below a 7/10 performance,” explains Lam, whose charges continue their playoff push by hosting Saracens this afternoon. “Joe Joyce [the former Bristol lock who is now with Connacht] summed it up when he said that Stevie has all the southern hemisphere skills and all the northern hemisphere skills. He is constantly highlighted for what he does at the breakdown, the detail in the way he carries and cleans out. And then he’s got the flashy stuff, the onehanded offloads. He ticks all the boxes. There’s more chance of us winning a game if he’s on the field.”

Lam and Luatua first met while the latter was progressing through the Auckland Blues set-up, on the way to playing in 15 Tests for the All Blacks. Well over a decade on, Luatua still sends texts to Lam after each game, proposing plans or plays. “The problem is that Stevie’s brain can be a bit ahead of the others at times,” Lam laughs. “We have to temper that and ease in [his suggestions] somehow.” Despite his pedigree, and that intuition, Luatua exudes an easy-going humility.

“If you had a group of six to eight leaders, Stevie would probably be the last guy to speak,” Lam continues. “He’s the first to listen to what others have, then he’ll come in. He makes others feel as though their opinion is important and, generally, there is a lot of wisdom about what he says.”

Fitz Harding succeeded Luatua as Bears captain for this campaign; another move to futureproof the side. Lam sounded out Luatua beforehand, finding him

“100 per cent behind” the idea. Subsequently, Luatua has been “a great mentor”. Listening to the man himself, that comes as little surprise.

“Sometimes it’s cool, sometimes it’s not,” says a chuckling Luatua of his role as a reassuring figurehead at Bristol. “When we’re on the field getting it right, it’s a joy to be part of. When things aren’t going so well, it’s about steering the ship, giving the boys belief.

“During that time off in the Six Nations, that’s what we did; build the belief back up. We’ve been showing the past few weeks that we can execute and we can do our jobs.”

While negotiating his new deal, Luatua and his wife Olivia reminisced about settling in the West Country. B r i s t ol had been relegated to the Championship prior to Lam’s arrival. In Luatua’s first competitive appearance at Ashton Gate, in September

2 0 17, th e y ended the first half trailing Hartpury College 8- 7 b e f o re coming through to win.

“Those were rough days,” Luatua admits. “I enjoyed playing for the Bears but, as a team, we just weren’t functioning well and I was pretty frustrated. I think the second game was down at Cornish Pirates. I had mud up to my knees and, it’d been a couple of years since I’d gotten dirty. It was really humbling, but cool.”

At 33, having added a World Cup with Samoa to his resume last year, Luatua continues to target improvements. “Definitely in the set- piece,” he says. “Defensive mauls are a big part of the Premiership, stopping those things. I’ve grown in that aspect, putting my head into dark places.”

Leaving New Zealand for Bristol, having just helped the Blues beat the 2017 British and Irish Lions, was a step into the dark as well. Luatua had turned 27 and was ending his All Blacks career. Lam needed to lobby hard. “We were going to inspire the community, get promoted,” he says of his sales pitch. “I talked about the impact he could have on and off the field; the lifestyle and how he could see Europe.”

By beating Saracens today, Luatua and his Bristol colleagues would be on the cusp of a top-four finish. Then, another chapter would be within reach.

Forward thinker: Former All Black Steven Luatua is still finding ways to improve his game at the age of 33