Pat Lam wary of physicality of Tigers

Bristol Bears boss Pat Lam has warned his charges of the physical battle waiting for them at Welford Road when they take on the Leicester Tigers this weekend. 

“I think Leicester have improved massively under Steve Borthwick, he’s a very experienced coach,” Lam said.  

“People have talked about the Leicester way, their DNA, all about up front, being direct, being physical, so we can take some of last week and use it this week. 

“All it does is underline the challenge – there are fans back at Welford Road, we know what that’s like, it’ll be intimidating in that sense, but again, it just raises the excitement to go and take on a challenge like this, as we prepare for finals rugby. 

“It was a tough game against Sale, but a really good game as we prepare for finals rugby. It was extremely physical, as I said after the game, but some great learnings around what we didn’t do as a team. But without a doubt, the boys brought tremendous effort, and will, and physicality, but we didn’t play and do certain things as a team, which cost us opportunities. But some massive learnings which will hold us well as go into finals rugby. 

“I’ve seen a real edge at training – we want to nail that home semi this week. More importantly too, we know that it’s in our control to finish top of the mountain and if we lose this week, we lose that control and it’s in other people’s hands. It’s a huge game for us and one that we want to perform in and get the job done.”