Time for Bristol to step up to the plate

ENGLISH clubs like Saracens, Leicester, Bath, Northampton and, to a lesser extent, Harlequins have got pedigree when it comes to the European Cup.

- JEREMY GUSCOTT

The same cannot be said for Bristol who have not got strong credentials in either the European Cup, or the Premiership, having won neither.

The closest they have come in the Premiership is their 43-36 defeat to Harlequins in the 2021 Premiership semi-final play-off at Ashton Gate – and it is a loss that they didn’t look they had recovered from until this season.

However, this time they are sitting second in the Premiership table, having won five of their seven games in the top English league going into their first round opener in Europe. That looks pretty encouraging until you see that the opposition facing them in this evening’s Pool 2 encounter at Ashton Gate is a Leinster side that are not only four-time European champions, but also have a line-up stacked with Irish internationals.

The other layer of uncertainty surrounding Bristol is that their brand of rugby is a bit confounding because it is so unstructured, whereas the inside line is that it is actually very structured.

What gives it an unstructured feel is that Bristol attack from either inside their own 22, or inside their own half, almost constantly. This encourages opponents to try to trap them in their own half, and then pressure them into losing the ball when they are at a territorial disadvantage.

This season Bristol have had more success in being elusive and attacking with flair, than their opponents have had in being able to shut them down, and I’d love to see a training session so we can see how their playbook works under head coach Pat Lam.