Bristol Bears will not be hosting any high-profile opposition sides in pre-season games this summer.
In recent years the Bears have played against director of rugby Pat Lam’s former club Connacht, but this summer Bristol are keeping things closer to home.
With most Premiership clubs getting their seasons underway with friendlies on the first weekend of September, two weeks ahead of the league season kicking off with the Bears raising the curtain on Friday, September 17 at home to Saracens, Bristol will instead get their pre-season underway inhouse with a behind closed doors 15v15 game.
The following Friday, September 10, the Bears will play Gloucestershire-based Championship side Hartpury in Bristol at 4pm in another behind closed doors game.
In recent years the Bears have grown strong links with Hartpury with several players going out on loan to get valuable game time.
Speaking to Bristol Live, Lam explained the thinking behind not playing more pre-season games ahead of the 2021/22 Gallagher Premiership season.
Lam said: "We are going to have a good training hit out and then a game with Hartpury.
"For us, because we have got a group which have been together for a while and our most important role is to be ready for that Saracens game."
Bristol have made just four new signings ahead of the upcoming season, bringing French centre Antoine Frisch to effectively replace Siale Piutau and scrum-half Tom Whiteley from Saracens with Chirs Cook leaving for Northampton Saints.
Elsewhere hooker Joe Cotton and scrum-half Theo Strang have linked up with the Bears on six-month trials.
Lam says the lack of disruption by having a consistent squad is also key to why the club don't need pre-season games.
Discussing how the new signings are settling in at the club's world-class High-Performance Centre in Failand, Lam said: "They are in.
"Antonine joined us for the last three or four weeks of last season just to get a feel for it as he finished the ProD2 [the French second division] a lot earlier.
"He has had a chance to build and get to know everyone.
"He looks good.
"Tom is buzzing around, he knows a few of the boys already and he has fitted in nicely as well."
Lam continued: "Joe Cotton is here, Theo Strang is here. It has been good for those guys because nearly 70 percent of our group are going into their third or fourth season with us and there are not many signings so I don’t need to do too much in terms of showing them the way because most of the squad know already and the new guys are picking it up incredibly fast.
"In other seasons we have had to go through all the minute detail but we have been able to kick on because of the retention."
