Keeping faith and confidence is going to be everything for Bristol Bears’ coaches over the coming weeks.
Having lost in the 84th minute at home to Leicester Tigers on Boxing Day, Bristol were defeated 19-13 away to Exeter Chiefs on New Year’s Day having been bullied and battered for much of the encounter at Sandy Park.
A late three-pointer from the boot of Callum Sheedy following a scrum penalty saw the Bears earn a losing bonus point but with Bristol still 12th in the table and nearly 20 points off the play-off places there are problems aplenty for director of rugby Pat Lam to fix on Saturday’s evidence.
Bristol just managed to stay in touch with Chiefs in the first hour, meaning Henry Purdy’s interception try from a Joe Simmonds pass in the 70th minute gave the visitors hope of a third straight win away in Devon.
But moments later Exeter showed their class as man of the match Stuart Hogg exploited Bristol’s narrow defence to score his side’s third try of the game following first half scores from Tom O’Flaherty and Jonny Hill.
Simmonds atoned for his earlier error by releasing the Scotland captain to score in the wide channels after the Bristol defence had been sucked narrow, bunching up to try and stop the homeside’s forwards borrowing over as British and Irish Lion Hill had managed in the first half.
While the Chiefs were playing with smiles on their faces, showing the more expansive side of their game in the mild and kind winter conditions, Bristol’s attack continues to falter with line breaks and metres made all down on last season’s averages once again.
Worryingly the only Bears try, just the club’s 23rd of the season, was opportunist rather than constructed.
For all the free-flowing attacking genius on display in 2020/21, as the Bears finished top of the league, they also battered opponents with their maul drive from lineouts.
That weapon seems to have been completely forgotten about, or at least was blunted irreversibly on Saturday due to a failure to secure clean ball at the line out.
And while the defence was relentless and fearsome, making a worryingly high 219 tackles to Exeter’s 93, as has been the case all season the Bears looked highly vulnerable to attack in the wide channels, as demonstrated by O’Flaherty’s superb first half score following a grubber kick in behind from Jack Nowell.
That said it was a one-score game with sixth minutes left on the clock and Lam believes his side are on the verge of cracking it.
He said: “We are not far away.
“We had lots of opportunity and space, we just didn’t execute well. Being 12-3 down it was about gutting it out and hanging in there so we could be in the fight at the end.
“When we got to 12-10 we gave away a silly penalty on halfway which allowed them back in and they are good at what they do.
“I have a lot of pride. The boys put their bodies on the line and hammered them and hammered them [defensively].”
The effort by Bristol, led by local boy Joe Joyce for the first time after 135 games, was certainly there, but the execution was certainly lacking with the likes of even Fijian star Semi Radradra looking rusty and full of errors, knocking the ball on in contact on several occasions.
Lam continued: “We have just got to keep going and never give up.
“There is still a long way to go.
“We are not far off [success] and this is where a lot of people give up and chuck it in, but we just have to keep pushing and keep pushing.
“There is a lot of character in this team and we are going through real adversity but this is what I enjoy because you see the guys coming through."
Injuries for Charles Piutau (hip) and potentially Ioan Lloyd (shoulder), to add to a calf problem for Steven Luatua which ruled him out of the game at Sandy Park, look to further compound Lam’s problems with just a six day turn around to Sale Shark visiting Ashton Gate on Friday night.
However, former England number eight Nathan Hughes made an impressive return in his first start since September having fallen out of favour this season, while Mitch Eadie also impressed off the bench.
Exeter Chiefs: 15. Stuart Hogg; 14. Jack Nowell; 13. Henry Slade; 12. Ollie Devoto; 11. Tom O’Flaherty; 10. Joe Simmonds; 9. Jack Maunder; 1. Alec Hepburn; 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie (capt); 3. Sam Nixon; 4. Sam Skinner; 5. Jonny Hill; 6. Dave Ewers; 7. Jannes Kirsten; 8. Sam Simmonds
Replacements: 16. Jack Yeandle; 17. Ben Moon; 18. Josh Iosefa-Scott; 19. Sean Lonsdale; 20. Don Armand; 21. Sam Maunder; 22. Harvey Skinner; 23. Ian Whitten
Bristol Bears: 15. Charles Piutau; 14. Luke Morahan; 13. Semi Radradra; 12. Sam Bedlow; 11. Ioan Lloyd; 10. Callum Sheedy; 9. Harry Randall; 1. Yann Thomas; 2. Harry Thacker; 3. Kyle Sinckler; 4. Joe Joyce; 5. Chris Vui; 6. Fitz Harding; 7. Dan Thomas; 8. Nathan Hughes
Substitutes 16. Will Capon; 17. Jake Woolmore; 18. John Afoa; 19. John Hawkins; 20. Mitch Eadie; 21. Andy Uren; 22. Piers O’Conor; 23. Henry Purdy
Referee: Luke Pearce (121st Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Dean Richards & Paul Dix.
TMO: David Rose.
Citing Officer: Andy Blyth.
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