'It will come good’ promises Bristol Bears star Joe Joyce after Newcastle defeat
Joe Joyce, the impassioned beating heart of this Bristol Bears team, promised worried fans the players will turn the results around after the club’s fourth loss of the fledgling Premiership season.
Speaking on the field at Kingston Park in the wake of a 13-5 defeat to Newcastle Falcons, the towering lock called for calmness and togetherness as the Bears look to turn their season around.
After five rounds of league action Bristol head into a bye weekend firmly in the bottom two in the table with just a win over Bath to hang their hats on.
But Joyce, who has played 129 games for the club having come through the academy, has seen much darker days than these during his Bristol career following years toiling in the second-tier RFU Championship.
But last season’s top-of-the-table finish in the Premiership and the expectation of success director of rugby Pat Lam has given fans means Bristol’s poor start to the season has come as both a shock.
Joyce said: “The last couple of results ain’t acceptable but we are barring up. As long as we stick together, don’t make excuses and don’t point fingers it will come good.
“I know it is a bit of a cliche but results like this, when we turn it around, at the end of the season it will make it more special.
“We have got a bye week now so it is important we do what we need to do in that week off.
“It won’t be too long until we are back firing again.”
The Bears will return to action away at London Irish before facing Worcester Warriors, two of the perceived weaker sides in the Premiership, offering the side an opportunity to rebuild but also bringing a type of pressure of its own as Lam’s side need to start accumulating points before they face sterner tests.
Fresh injuries to Jake Woolmore, Chris Vui, Piers O’Conor, Sam Bedlow and Henry Purdy to add to Bryan Byrne, Steven Luatua, Siva Naulago and Luke Morahan, saw Lam hand first starts of the season to Jack Bates, Antoine Frisch, Toby Fricker and Sam Jeffries.
Jeffries has been tuning up for his first Premieship start in nearly four years with games for Hatrpury in the Championship.
His return from a knee injury is the one true bright spot of the afternoon.
Joyce continued: “It was good to see some fresh lads come in. A lot of boys who haven’t played, Sam Jeffries who has been out for a long time, he had a bad injury, to see him back out performing like that for 80 minutes was nice to see. There were some young lads playing. But at the end of the day you want the result. All these things are nice but I promise you there will be hard work to try and fix things.
“It is a results business but there is a long way to go yet. Everyone loses games.
“This is another game we are lost but this is not Aresenal in 03, we were not going to go the season unbeaten.
“We will come back I promise you.”
On paper Bristol’s squad got weaker over the summer losing three significant players in Siale Piutau, Max Malins and Ben Earl, while adding just centre Frisch and scrum-half Tom Whiteley.
But Joyce was in no mood for making excuses and firmly believes the Bears have the squad to be contenders again this season.
He said: “We don’t need to change too much. It is a loss, we will review what we did badly and move on and fix it.
“Obviously people are injured but I remember last year we got the most points during the international window and during the season and people were saying how good our squad is. “Now people are saying it’s not so good - but it’s the same squad.
“We have lost a few games, confidence is down, but we will get there.
“We have got too many people at this club who care, too many leaders who know what they are talkin about, too many good coaches. It is only going to be a matter of time.”
