Pat Lam says he has no animosity against Saracens despite this weekend’s opponents being found guilty of breaching the salary cap for the past three seasons.
As a result of their indiscretions which saw owner Nigel Wray investing in co-investment with his senior players outside of the declared salary cap, Saracens accepted a fine of £5.36m and a 35 point deduction which leaves them bottom of the Gallagher Premiership on -18 points but having won four of their first five games in the competition this season.
Without the deduction the North London club would sit second in the table behind Northampton Saints, the position the Bears currently occupy.
With Saracens hell-bent on avoiding relegation director of rugby Mark McCall has been resting a number of his star international players in the Heineken Champions Cup, a competition they have won for the last two seasons, knowing every league game in 2019/20 is now a much win.
Lam said: “We have got a massive challenge. We are playing Saracens away from home, which is tough in itself, let alone against a team which is going to be stacked with internationals.
“It is pretty much like playing the England team but these are the games I am excited by to find out where we are as a group.
"They will be fully loaded because of the situation they are in. There’s no reason for them to be complacent at all, so if we manage to pull off the victory, it’s going to be a huge achievement, and it’s a great test for where we are.”
Last season Bristol led at half time at Allianz Park, a ground the club have never won at, but a red card against flanker George Smith for a high tackle, which was then overturned in the following disciplinary hearing, saw the hosts eventually run out 44-23 winners.
Back in the comforts of Ashton Gate in Round 19 Bristol recorded a 23-21 to illustrate their progression during the course of the season. Progress which has continued into this season.
Lam, who has been said he will certainly not let the salary cap breach distract him or his side from the task at hand on Saturday afternoon.
“At the end of day we are concentrating on the game, off the field it is completely out of our control. They have been through it and we have had the outcome and the consequences.
“Everything moves on, we haven’t got the time or the energy to be concentrating on those types of things.
“Our main thing is we have got to concentrate on them on the field and we have got a lot of respect for them as individual players and as a group and this is an almighty challenge we face but this is what this team needs right now to test ourselves.
“Last season we went to Allianz Park and gave it a good go but we were not the team we are today.
"That is not a guarantee we are going to win this year but we are in a better place to give it a good crack.”
