The Gallagher Premiership is now the best domestic league in the world says Bristol Bears head coach Pat Lam and getting more competitive each season.
Which makes his ambitions to propel Bristol Bears into the top six this season all the more impressive.
Following the completion of the Rugby World Cup this autumn an exodus of Southern hemisphere stars are heading north to test themselves in the English Premiership and pick up some reasonably heft paychecks as well.
Looking around at Bristol’s rivals and the Gallagher Premiership ahead of the Bears’ second season back in the top flight, Lam said: “It has just grown. The Gallagher Premiership is becoming like the Premier League in football.
“The Premiership has grown to become the number one competition in the world. People are coming over here from all over the world and people are wanting to come here because they understand the quality of the competition.
It is all in one country [unlike Super Rugby or the PRO14] but the standard is massive, whether that is the quality of the coaching or the players.
“It is obviously well supported financially as well so it is only going to get stronger and stronger naturally.
“You know the strength of the competition when any team can win on their day, that is great.
“I know Saracens and Exeter have been right up there, but that is not going to be the same this year. I think every club will be right up there competing.”
And why shouldn’t Lam believe that, his Bristol side finished ninth last season in one of the tightest ever Premiership campaigns, beating Saracens at Ashton Gate, and narrowly losing home and away by less than one score to Chiefs.
Lam said: “Everything we do is geared towards improving and if we are going to improve all of us guys, the players and the staff, have to be held accountable.
“Everyone has to step up and do their part.
“I have always made it very clear, we are a high performance team which is very social, we are not social team which is trying to be high performance.
“We have some really good people here but ultimately everyone is accountable for the performance.”
The Bears won over their critics during the course of 2018/19 after many, if not most pundits had predicted their immediate return to the Championship. In the end Newcastle Falcons were the side to drop down.
But Lam had set his standards and sights much higher than mere survival.
He said: “I was disappointed with last year. Yeah we stayed up, that was great, but to be four or five points off the play-offs, when you consider how many points we left on the field, the reality is we missed out on a golden opportunity.
“The top six is our goal, we wanted to be in the Champions Cup this year, and so this year is all about making sure we are in that top six. I want Champions Cup rugby here next season.”
