Bath semi-final a 'dream game' for Bristol
Bristol Bears' Premiership semi-final against Bath has been described as a "dream game" by director of rugby Pat Lam.Lam's side go into the match as underdogs having finished the season fourth, 14 points behind their local rivals in the regular season standings.However, a league double over Bath this season backs up Lam's notion that his side "know how to beat Bath" - a defiant claim made following his side's 52-26 victory against Harlequins which confirmed Bears' play-off spot."We're proud of that record, but it's the next one that counts," Lam told BBC Radio Bristol."We've never played a derby game as a semi-final and for us we've never been in a final. It is the dream game really."There's so much interest in it. We've already picked that up from both sets of supporters. There's good banter going back and forth."
Having joined the club in 2017, it is just the second time Lam has led Bristol into the Premiership post-season shake-up, having been defeated in the semi-finals by Wasps during the Covid-disrupted 2019-20 campaign.After missing out on making the top four by just two points last season, Bristol held off late challenges from Gloucester and Saracens to set up Friday's mouth-watering clash at The Rec."Our goal was never to just get in the top four though; this is just the first stage," Lam added."Last year, we showed shoots that we're coming back and we missed out. This year, with the smallest squad and probably the cheapest squad we've had in my whole time here, to do what the boys have done is brilliant."Having clinched a home semi-final back in April, Bath coach Johann van Graan has used the past month to tinker with his side and gave seven players their debut in last Saturday's 36-26 defeat by Saracens."They've been able to rotate their squad," Lam said. "They have that ability to play one week, rest the next week and then play one week."
The 56-year-old said he had to make last-minute alterations to his squad's preparations on Wednesday after attending Tuesday's rugby awards, which saw Ellis Genge named as Community Player of the Season.But Lam, a Premiership winner as a player with Newcastle Falcons, will not let that slightly disrupted preparation be any form of excuse for his players."We had the awards dinner which meant we had to move things back a couple of hours because we didn't get back until 2am," he added."We had a 45-minute session so that's our prep but that's all we need - we just need to make sure we're on the same page and the priority is a full tank to go against an unbelievable Bath team."That's our challenge. Their challenge is separate but our challenge is the six days turnover and getting to the start line as fully fresh as we can."Hopefully we've managed that right but we won't know until we see what happens on Friday."Lam confirmed Genge and lock James Dun were "100%" fit but England back Max Malins remains a long-term absentee.
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