Pat Lam proud of Bristol players after win at Saints

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam couldn’t hide his delight after his team’s come-from-behind win over Northampton Saints on Sunday.

The Bears were under the cosh for long periods and trailed 14-0 early in the second half before a late fightback secured them a 20-14 victory at Franklin’s Gardens.

Lam admitted that he was disappointed with his team’s effort during the opening period but praised the way they responded in the game’s latter stages.

“I was frustrated from the first half, we said our purple patch would come but the first thing is we’ve got to keep the ball,” he said.

“Then when we scored the message went out to score again and then we scored again. We were playing and then we kicked the ball away and they had their purple patch of attack again.

“I am proud of them because at the end of the day we’ve gone away to Exeter Chiefs and won away there, and gone to the second-placed team Saints and done the same.

“But those are outcomes. The team that we want to be, we can’t play rugby like that if we want to set the standards higher.”

https://twitter.com/BristolBears/status/1229097425069060097

Northampton Saints boss Chris Boyd lamented his side’s performance which led to their second home defeat in as many matches, after they also lost to London Irish on on January 24.

“We surrendered a 14-point lead which hurts,” he said.

“You don’t want to surrender that anytime particularly not at home, so it was a bitter pill to swallow.

“We felt we controlled the game for long periods of time, but at the end of the day they went back-to-back with tries in quick succession and held on at the end.

“It’s a good result for them away from home. I think it was a tight contest, both sides defended reasonably well and we leaked a couple of first phase defensive errors and they capitalised on that and scored 14 points.”