BRISTOL BEARS
Paul Rees talks to Joe Joyce and Pat Lam about their transformation
Joe Joyce is Bristol’s longest serving player after joining nine years ago, but such are the changes the Bears have gone through in that time, moving grounds, rebranding and shuffling between the Championship and the Premiership, he feels as if he has been at three different clubs.
“It keeps you fresh,” which is not a bad thing,” said the 27-year old, 6ft 6ins, 19st second row who arrived at Bristol at the end of 2012 when the club were eighth in the Championship and going nowhere. Now they lead the Premiership by 12 points and today are in France to challenge Bordeaux-Begles for a place in the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals.
Bristol regularly flirted with bankruptcy for the first 15 years of the professional era before the arrival of the multi-millionaire owner Steve Lansdown, but it was only when Pat Lam was appointed head coach in 2017, becoming director of rugby two years later, that the club started looking upwards.
“Pat and the Lansdown family have completely changed things,” said Joyce, a Bristolian. “I think it was a blessing that we were in the Championship in Pat’s first season because he had a year to try things and get it right for the Premiership. We got to know each other as a group of players.
“When we came up, Pat made it clear what his plans were. There was to be no talk about relegation or survival – it was all about making the Champions Cup. People laughed at him, but we have done everything he said we would. You have to aim high and we just need to keep going.”
Bristol recruited some of the game’s top players, Semi Radradra, Charles Piutau, Ratu Naulago and Kyle Sinckler among them, but they have also brought through the likes of Harry Randall, Callum Sheedy, Jake Woolmore and Joyce with Lam rating personality as important as ability.
“Pat looks for players who will fit in off the field and that has made a massive difference,” said Joyce. “I have been in changing rooms here when I have not liked the person next to me and it is not a nice feeling. People were here for the wrong reasons, such as a pay cheque, and you do not want that. There is none of that at the club now and there isn’t a bad egg here. That comes down to recruitment.
“Pat brought in coaches he had worked with and key players, like John Afoa, Charles Piutau and Semi, who he had coached before. There was no risk because he knew exactly what he was getting. It is not about money because we are bound by the salary cap like everyone else. It is all about the culture you develop.
“I remember coming off the field a few minutes before the end of last year’s European Challenge Cup final against Toulon and reflecting that two years before half the team had been playing in the Championship and that young academy players were involved. Yes, we have some of the world’s best players, but what makes this club is that everyone is playing their part.”
Joyce started the final against Toulon having come off the bench when Bordeaux-Begles were beaten in extra-time in an end-to-end semifinal at Ashton Gate. The Top 14 club lost at home to La Rochelle last weekend but had won six of their previous seven matches, a run that included victories at Racing 92 and Clermont Auvergne.
“Like all the top French clubs, have some big men but they can play expansively,” said Joyce. “They have skill, size and speed and are the complete package. The semi-final was a really fast game between two teams who like to play and I do not expect this weekend to be any different.
“They have so many dangerous players and I was amazed their back rower Cameron Woki hardly got a look-in for France in the Six Nations. He was the best player I faced last season and I cannot work out why he is not a starter in international rugby, an outstanding talent.
“We respect them, but we believe we have a game to beat anyone and are not going there in fear. We like to think we have an all-court game, running, passing and kicking, and it will be about making sure that we take the right options on the day.”
The adjustments players and teams have had to make in the last year because of the pandemic have led to up-and-down form at club and international level. Bristol have been the one beacon of consistency in the Premiership having lost only two of their 15 matches, the first on the opening day of the campaign at Wasps.
“We have not been able to go out in groups for coffee and stuff and it has been hard on the new players,” said Joyce. “They cannot go around and get used to the city. Kyle Sinckler joined us a year ago and he has yet to see Bristol. Everyone is in the same position and with luck we are now through the worst of it.”
The trip to Wasps was the only time that Bristol have lost on the road this season, drawthey
“People used to be here for the wrong reasons, such as a pay cheque”
ing at London Irish in February. Bordeaux-Begles have lost two home matches in the last 25 in all competitions and won their two Champions Cup pool matches, at Northampton and against the Dragons, before the format was rejigged because of the virus. “We take pride in our consistency, but these are strange times and you will get unexpected results,” said Joyce. “With no relegation from the Premiership, some teams will rest players, but it is a squad game and the best thing for me about this season is that everyone who has been called on has stepped up and contributed.
“It meant we were able to secure a lot of points during the Six Nations period when we had a number of players on international duty and others injured. To be 12 points ahead at the top of the Premiership has allowed us to fully concentrate on Bordeaux-Begles this week.
“It is our first year in the Champions Cup as a group and so it is new to us, but it is part of the vision set out by Pat from the start. We are confident, but we recognise that it is going to take a lot of hard work. The togetherness we have shown this season has allowed us to come through to win a number of matches at the end.
“It is hard work because as the club gets better and standards rise, you have to improve every year or you will be gone. I feel pretty blessed as a local lad because the last couple of seasons have been brilliant: we have won the Challenge Cup, been at the top end of the Premiership and I have played a lot of games. It has been awesome.”
Clubs are counting down the days to when fans will be allowed to watch matches again, and so is Joyce who, when he is not playing rugby or training, likes to watch football. He follows two clubs, fellow occupiers of Ashton Gate, Bristol City, and Arsenal.
“I like all sports, but I am a massive football fan,” he said. “I like to spend time travelling to watch the two clubs, but the pandemic has put paid to that. Having been depressed for a good ten years watching Arsenal, I am not sure I have missed it! Give it another year and I reckon we will be alright.”