Pat Lam defended his weakened team selection following Bristol Bears’ 59-35 defeat at Wasps on Sunday.
The Bears’ director of rugby’s young side conceded nine tries as Bristol have dropped out of the play-off places to fifth with just two rounds of the Gallagher Premiership to go.
Lam is far from alone in selecting substantially weaker, changed sides during this period of congested fixtures with most clubs following suit.
But if Bristol are to achieve their ambitious targets of winning silverware this season the heavy defeat at the Ricoh Arena must be their last of the season even with one of the toughest schedules in the history of club rugby in front of them.
Having played seven games in the space of 29 days since rugby restarted for the club on August 15 after a five month suspension of the season because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Bears now turn their attention to Europe where they face Dragons in the quarter-final of the Challenge Cup on Friday night and a potential home semi-final the following weekend should they win, before turning their attention back to the Premiership and facing Leicester Tigers at Ashton Gate on September 30 and London Irish away on October 4.
That is another four games in 16 day, with a further three on the horizon, over three back-to-back weekends, should the Bears progress through the knockout rounds in both competitions.
Discussing the team selection which saw Lam made 12 changes to the side which thrashed Northampton 47-10 on Tuesday night, he said: “The fixture list forced us to do this. Our competitors Wasps took a few injuries because they had to play guys again twice in a week but they have got 15 days to do nothing now and recover, for us we are going into Europe and we had to manage that.”
Despite fielding a side lacking the club’s international superstars Lam said his message was to go for the win when he addressed the side in the changing rooms at the half time, down 31-14.
Lam explained: “We were still looking for the win at half time.
“We blew four or five tries, one pass here or there and we could have scored more tries.
“We didn’t get off to a great start obviously at the very beginning but I have a lot of pride in the boys.
“It is not about the situation you are in, it is about how you deal with it.
“We spoke at half time and said the minimum is the bonus point but we are still going for the win.
“Unfortunately we conceded just before half time [which made life more difficult].
“I think what the boys realise is that this stage they are at, and a lot of them have got really good careers ahead of them, they know the good stuff we did was when everyone did their bits and pieces.
“Unfortunately that scoreboard is more a reflection of our errors than the quality of Wasps because we allowed them to play.”
Wasps ran in nine tries against Bristol at the Ricoh Arena with: Jack Willis, Josh Bassett, Tom Cruse, Will Rowlands, Zach Kibirige, Dan Robson, Tom Willis and Gabriel Oghre touching down while referee Ian Tempest awarded a penalty try.
The Bears did salvage a four-try bonus point from the game after crossing the whitewash through Max Malins(2), Piers O'Conor, Peter McCabe as well as benefiting from another penalty try.
