Pat Lam relying on Bristol Bears’ jacks of all trades with threadbare squad for 2024/25

If Bristol Bears reach the 2024/25 Gallagher Premiership final they will play 20 games in the league, at least another four in the Champions Cup and likely another five in the Premiership Rugby Cup.

Should they, unlikely though it is, reach the final in all three of those competitions they will play 35 competitive games next season, plus face the Queensland Reds and an Australia XV in exhibition games, and yet the Bears head into the new campaign with just one specialist fly-half on the books, three senior centres and and a frontrow lacking a clear first choice tighthead prop.

READ MORE: Bristol Bears confirm 38-player senior squad for 2024/25 season with Chris Vui absent

Bristol have excellent players in all three of those key positions, but director of rugby Pat Lam is going to have to pray his key men stay fit or the club’s campaign is at risk of unraveling quickly.

When Lam spoke to the press last month, he insisted he has no plans to recruit an additional fly-half to compete with 34-year-old USA international AJ MacGinty, who missed several games last season following a serious hamstring injury. Welsh international Callum Sheedy stepped up in MacGinty’s absence in 2023/24, but he has joined Cardiff Rugby this summer.

Instead, Lam is going to lean on the likes of the versatile James Williams and Max Malins as cover for number ten with both men showing their capabilities last season on the club’s stunning conclusion to the campaign which ended with the England international full-back moving to stand-off and pulling the strings in the impressive 53-28 win against Harlequins at the Twickeham Stoop.

Discussing Malins’ display at 10 after the match, Lam said: "Max played really good at 10 for us when we was with us on loan from Saracens and when I talked to him when he came back but he said he just wanted to nail that full-back role and I said no problem.

“But speaking to him before the Harlequins game, with AJ out with a concussion, I said 'what do you reckon?' And he said, ‘I’m ready.’ He is now really comfortable with our game and he is a quality player. I told him after the game that was awesome and there will be a few more games coming where he plays 15 and 10. It is great to have that option with Callum leaving.”

Incredibly versatile centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg is another option at first receiver should he be needed and Bristol are also very excited about the potential of senior academy fly-half Sam Worsley, with the club keen to give the 20-year-old more first-team opportunities to prove himself having made seven appearances to date. That is all part of the evolved ethos at the club to try and nurture more homegrown talent.

While it is all very well talking about centre smoving over to cover number 10, that leaves an already depleted set of midfield options even shorter now Piers O’Conor and Virimi Vakatawa have moved on this summer. Lam made no secret of the fact he wanted to keep the French international at the club but the pair were unable to agree terms. Whether the club go to the transfer market to replace Vakatawa remains to be seen, but Lam's now familiar line is 'recruitment never sleeps.'

Williams and Janse van Rensburg look set to be Bristol’s first-choice pairing at 12 and 13 with Fijian international Kalaveti Ravouvou going from being a luxury player to likely playing a key role throughout the season. Further down the pecking order, former England U20s star Joe Jenkins looks set to be given more opportunities having suffered a number of injury setbacks last year to slow his development.

In the pack, the major concern is at tighthead following the departure of Kyle Sinckler to Toulon. Bristol have brought in Lovejoy Chawatama from Harlequins to replace Sinckler, but the drop off in quality between a British and Irish Lion and a player who was struggling to get game time for Quins is considerable, even if Bears fans rarely got to see Sinckler at his very best.

Max Lahiff is a proven Premiership performer who has grown in stature in the last year, but the loquacious 34-year-old now heads into the new campaign potentially as first choice in the number three jersey.

Unless the club are struck by injuries, Lam seems content with his stable of tightheads, with the Bears banking on 24-year-old George Kloska having a breakthrough season to help carry the weight as the cornerstone of the pack.

Time will only tell whether the club’s versatile squad can handle the vigors and challenges of a long season domestic season to come., but as thing stands there remain areas of concern.