Bristol, Bath and the West Country is set to confirm it’s reputation as the heartland of English rugby as a record crowd is expected at Ashton Gate on Friday night for the derby game between Bristol Bears and Bath Rugby.
Bristol Bears v Bath brings
up the curtain of the Gallagher Premiership season for the second successive season following the smash success of last season's game.
In 2018/19 Pat Lam’s Bristol side won 17-10 in front of a then record 26,079 on the first weekend of the Gallagher Premiership to kick-off a season which saw them defy expectations by finishing well clear of the relegation fight in ninth and just five points off a place in the semi-finals.
Today the Bears have confirmed they are sold out for Friday night’s game, with a record crowd of 26,399 set to descend on BS3 for the showpiece game.
That will beat the stadium’s existing record attendance of 26,088 which was set when Bristol City beat Manchester United 2-1 in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup in December 2017.
The game is also being shown live on BT Sports and Bristol Live will of course be live blogging the game providing you all the build-up, team news, live action, reaction, analysis and highlights from ground.
Ahead of the game Bears director of rugby Pat Lam said: “Everyone is buzzing, everyone wants to play. That is the difficulty we have in choosing who is going to be in that starting group, who is going to be in that 23, but that is what we want. I am happy.”
.png?w=600)
