Despite Bristol Bears' best efforts to make a spectacle of the game on Saturday by gifting Bath an early two-try lead, it was in the end a convincing win at the Recreation Ground.
In fact it was more than convincing, it was our biggest ever victory in the league against Bath at their place. Add that to our record 48-3 league win against our old foes at Ashton Gate in January and you can see how far this Bristol Bears team has come in the Pat Lam era.
To say we have emerged from the shadow of our West Country rivals would be a massive understatement. We are now sunbathing at the top of the Premiership table, sipping on a rugby cocktail of forward dominance and backline wizardry.
I have to admit I was surprised to see how well the notorious Bath pitch held up after the heavy rain leading into the game. A couple of years ago, that kind of downpour would have tuned the Rec into a mud bath and ruined any chance of a free-flowing game.
Clearly, Max Malins our fly-half, come full-back and now wily winger had adapted his game for the conditions; using an eel-like dive and glide technique to bag two tries.
Much has been written about Kyle Sinckler’s man-of-the-match performance and his post-game interview. I’m sure like me, many fans will have had a lump in their throat as they watched Kyle talk about the hurt of missing out on this summer’s Lions tour.
I think it is fair to say we haven’t quite seen the dominant performances we’d expected form Kyle during his time at Bristol so far. But all that changed on Saturday.
Although a massive disappointment for Kyle, I think his Lions omission might be a massive boost for Bristol.
We have a hugely talented tighthead that now has a point to prove as we enter the business end of the season.
Let’s hope when the Lions play their warm-up game against Japan at Murrayfield on Premiership Final day; Kyle will be proudly wearing a Premiership winners medal at Twickenham instead.
Next up Gloucester and a third local derby in a row. But for the first time in 15 months cheered on by Bears’ fans at the Gate. I can’t wait!
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