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Well, that escalated quickly.
No sooner had Bristol Bears booked their place in the Gallagher Premiership playoff semifinals, than Bears coach Pat Lam fired the first verbal volley in the build up to their clash against Bath on Friday.
Yep, that Pat Lam.
Quiet understated, but successful. The man who led Connacht to the Pro 14 title and oversaw Bristol as they established themselves in the Premiership after years of bouncing up and down from the Championship.
“I don’t have to do anything (to motivate them),” Lam said. “The local boys take over and sort it out.
“We’ve played Bath 14 times since we’ve been back in the Premiership and won 11. We know how to beat them. But they’ve spent close to £3m more than we have on our squad.”
POOR RELATIONS
Alright, not quite Hulk Hogan at his pre-bout raging best during his wrestling glory days in the 1980s, but a sign that the gloves are coming off as the pressure increases.
Bristol’s 52-26 win over Harlequins on Saturday meant they finished fourth and will now hit the road to play runaway leaders Bath. In the other semifinal, Leicester Tigers take on Sale Sharks on Saturday.
For those unfamiliar with English geography, 13 miles separate the two cities in England’s west, and while Bristol is bigger physically, in rugby terms Bath’s achievements dwarf them.
That said Bath have not been champions since 1996. In the meantime, they claimed the 1998 Heineken Cup, and two Challenge Cups, including this season, their first major trophy since 2008.
It is the second time in two weeks that we’ve had some smack talk. It comes after Union Bordeaux Bègles’ multi-layered take down of Northampton Saints’ Henry Pollock after their win in the Investec Champions Cup Final.
STREAMLINED SPENDING
It certainly gets our approval, but like Matthieu Jalibert’s claim that Pollock called UBB’s players mercenaries, it is one that doesn’t quite stand up to scrutiny.
Bath are one of the four Premiership clubs who spend up to the wage limit of £6.4million or £7.2million with homegrown player credits, but star man Finn Russell is a marquee player so can command a salary of £1million a year.
It is true that Bristol aren’t the big spenders they once were. At the start of the season Lam confirmed that they barely reached the £5million mark after taking the decision to streamline their spending by letting England’s Kyle Sinckler and Wales’s Callum Sheedy depart.
However, a team that is owned by billionaire, financial services tax exile Steve Lansdown can hardly claim to be the poor relations.
BRAGGING RIGHTS ON THE LINE
This is a man that Forbes valued at $2.7billion in 2024, and the man behind the move from their modest Memorial Ground home to the 27,000 Ashton Gate stadium that they share with Bristol City.
While we’re all for a bit of pot stirring ahead of major matches, especially those that fit into the derby category, it betrays Lam’s belief that his team may need that extra push to maintain their focus after a season that has swung wildly in extremes.
A month ago, the Bears secured local bragging rights with a 36-14 win over Bath in front of more than 50,000 fans at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
It was their second Premiership win over their local rivals this season, and underlines Lam’s determination that they must focus on getting their emotional pitch right. Hence his early broadside.
He added, “no doubt we’re underdogs in everyone’s eyes. We’ll just go to Bath and see what happens.”
The gloves are off.
