By Ben Thorne
Bristol Bears Director of Rugby, Pat Lam, believes his side has what it takes to beat Gloucester Rugby on Friday night, having never lost to the visitors at Ashton Gate during his tenure.
The Bears come into the game as favourites, after winning impressively last weekend away at Newcastle Falcons, building on their great form from the back end of the 2023-24 season. Their opponents travel south on the M5, looking to pick up their first victory of the campaign having been beaten by Saracens last time out.
Lam said: “we haven’t lost to Gloucester at home in my time, so we know what we have to do, we just have to go out and do it.”
He added: “with us being at home, I think for most people the expectation is that we will go out and win the game.”
Including last seasons results, Bristol have lost only one of their last nine Gallagher Premiership fixtures but last term their away form was better than when they played at home.
The Bears boss aims to emulate his side’s form at Ashton Gate from the 2020-21 season when only Sale Sharks and Exeter Chiefs beat them at home.
Lam said: “as a team we are determined to address our home form this season and do everything possible to ensure that we can call it a fortress, but the results determine that.
“Last season we had some big wins but unfortunately we lost some games as well.”
Looking at their opposition, George Skivington’s Cherry and Whites scored four tries at home to a strong Saracens team on Saturday, securing a bonus point, which Lam believes is a sign that Gloucester’s fortunes may be changing.
He said: “I’ve got a lot of admiration for George [Skivington], for being brave enough to realise that they wanted to change the way that they were playing.
“We certainly saw glimpses in that Saracens game of how dangerous they are going to be, so it’s potentially going to be a great game with two teams that want to play rugby.”
Welsh half back duo, Gareth Anscombe and Tomos Williams both started against Saracens and have been named in the starting lineup for Friday’s encounter, with the latter named as captain.
Lam was quick to reference the pair, as he said: “the challenge that we have got is that we are going to play a team that has a lot of world class players and we know that they are going to come to us and try and have a go.
“But the weather looks good and we’ll be in our blue and white hoops for the first time at home this season and being the only Friday night game means that there should be a lot of eyes on the match and therefore we expect a big crowd.
“Coming off the back of a loss from last week, they’ll certainly be fired up for the game so they will definitely be a dangerous opponent for us.”
Bristol Bears kick off against Gloucester Rugby on Friday night at Ashton Gate, with kick off at 7:45pm.