Pat Lam backs English winger to ‘play at the next level’ following breathtaking hat-trick against Exeter
Gabriel Ibitoye is 'good enough' to play at the next level according to boss Pat Lam
Bristol Bears boss Pat Lam believes star wing Gabriel Ibitoye is “good enough to play at the next level” following another stellar performance in the Premiership.
The 26-year-old was on top form against Exeter, notching a stellar nine-minute hat-trick to secure a dramatic 40-35 win at Sandy Park.
“He’s good enough to play at the next level”
Ibitoye has been on top form this season and has quickly become the heartbeat of the Bristol attack, and boss Lam was full of praise for him following another great showing.
“I believe he’s good enough to play at the next level,” he told the media after the game. “His fundamentals as a winger are great, and then on top of that, we get the Gabriel Ibitoye who’s brilliant. He’s one of the fittest guys, he’s electric, but it’s about him staying in the game and he’s done that very well.”
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Lam also detailed the key area he’s worked on to allow Ibitoye to go up another gear this season.
“There’s a few areas of his game we’ve worked on,” he explained. “If you think about high balls, he’s brilliant at catching high balls, but there’d be five high balls go up in the air and he’d catch four, that’s just mental. We addressed that with him, and he hasn’t dropped one this year.”
The winger burst onto the scene with Harlequins, before leaving to join Agen in 2020. He later had brief spells at Montpellier and Tel Aviv Heat before returning to the Premiership with Bristol in 2022, where he’s notched 43 appearances to date.
Despite his form, Ibitoye has not yet earned a senior England cap but was a regular feature for the U20 side during his early career.
Bears taking it one game at a time
The win at Sandy Park – Bristol’s eighth-straight away victory – takes them to the top of the Premiership table with three wins from their opening four games, and also comes off the back of their 36-26 victory over Bath last weekend too.
On top of this, they also currently boast the best-attacking record in the league with 141 points to their name after four games.
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With their red-hot form, it could be easy to get carried away; but Lam insists they are just focusing on next weekend’s clash with Saracens.
“Next week is all we’re looking at, and what a fixture it looks like being; a top-of-the-table clash,” Lam said.
The reverse fixture last year ultimately de-railed their push for the play-offs, and Lam detailed his side were “really disappointed” off the back of it.
“We were really disappointed with our game against them last year,” he said. We didn’t get the best versions of ourselves. They’re going really well, and what a game to go and try to fix our home form. We’ll enjoy tonight, and recover; it’ll probably be a modified week with the sore bodies, but that’s fine as long as we rock up for a massive game.”