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Lam motivated to take Bristol on to a future title

Harry Randall (centre) walks on the pitch at full-time with two disappointed team-mates behind himRex Features

Bristol lost scrum-half Harry Randall (centre) to an injury before half-time as they were beaten by Bath

Sophie Hurcom
BBC Sport England, West

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam has insisted he has lost none of the motivation to try to take the Bears to a Premiership final next season, despite watching his side fall short in their semi-final at Bath.

The Bears held a slender half-time lead over Bath but conceded four successive tries to fall out of contention as their West Country neighbours booked a place in the Twickenham final next week.

Lam, who ed Bristol in 2017 with the club then in the Championship, has taken the Bears to the play-offs three times but not yet to a final.

"To get to the final was massive for us - we are disappointed but we gave it a really good go and we missed out to a quality team," Lam said.

"If you look over the seven years at what we've done and what Bath have done, Bath will always get a lot of credit because they've won titles, Northampton won titles, Saracens have won titles.

"I think for us to go to that next level and earn some of that respect we need to win a title, that's the next evolution of this team.

"I'm really excited by next year and what could happen."

Bristol finished fourth in the table, securing their semi-final spot - and their first since 2021 when they topped the league - in the final round of the regular season with a win against Harlequins six days previously.

They did so with the smallest squad in the Premiership and after missing key players such as fly-half AJ MacGinty and winger Gabriel Ibitoye for large chunks of the season.

Against Bath they scored a breathtaking try which started metres from their own tryline through Kalaveti Ravouvou and was capped off by James Dun, and showcased plenty more of the quick, slick ball-handling skills that made them one of the top attacking outfits this season, and briefly stopped Bath in their tracks.

But across 80 minutes they could not match their opponents - particularly with the loss of scrum-half Harry Randall on 37 minutes to a shoulder injury and following two yellow cards.

Pat LamRex Features

Bristol were in the Championship when Pat Lam was appointed in 2017 and he has a contract with the club until 2028

Lam, who is under contract until 2028, said they need to develop more of the strength in depth that Bath have to push on.

He also pointed to the gs of versatile Scotland and Glasgow back Tom Jordan, winger Max Pepper and second row Pedro Rubiolo as additions that will bolster them in 2025-26.

"We've just got to keep building that depth below so when we lose key guys they can fill that gap even better," he said.

"We've still got the smallest squad, we've got 31 players next year, 19 senior academy boys.

"What we've shown is you don't have to spend to the cap - we've tidied up so much of the whole organisation, I believe we're sitting nicely now off the field and we'll build and when we do get some more funds we've got enough in our cap space to grow from there."

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