Bristol Bears director Rugby Pat Lam looks set to make minimal changes to his match-winning side of recent weeks as the form team in the Gallagher Premiership aim to take another scalp on Sunday when Newcastle Falcons comes to Ashton Gate.
With little room for error with the race for the play-offs tighter than ever Bristol Bears head into the game with a sense of pressure and anticipation on their shoulders, knowing the really need to to come away from the tie with a bonus point win against the league's winless basement dwellers. Discussing the race for the top four, Lam said: "All we can control is the next game. If we win all our games we will get there. We know that, so we are not worrying about the top four we are worrying about the next game, which is Newcastle. We have had a good couple of weeks of preparation for it, we understand what is coming and what we need to do it be right on it as a team. When we play as a team were are pretty good, when we don't we are pretty average."
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Lam confirmed in his mid-week press conference French star Virimi Vakatawa, who scored a try of the season contender away at Newcastle back in December, is back in the selection mix having missed the last couple of winning performances against Northampton Saints and Gloucester because of illness. However, with Premiership player of the month nominee Benhard Janse van Rensburg firing on all guns in midfield alongside the reliable James Williams, the Bristol back line has been purring without Vakatawa.
Lam said: He is back. He had an illness but he has been back in training with us for a couple of weeks now. But I have had some tough conversations with players, and they say it to me too, it is hard to change a winning team, when the boys are playing so well. But the only reason they are playing well is because the boys are competing so hard in training. Last week we finished Friday with a full on competitive session and if you were looking on you wouldn't have known which team was the strongest, there were just 30 guys competing for places, which is great. There is really good competition at the moment."
Talking about the South African centre, who signed a multi-year contract when he signed from London Irish last summer, Lam labelled Janse van Rensburg a coach's dream. He said: "He is class. He is a coach's dream really. He always says to me 'just tell me what you want me to do coach, I will do it.' He is a quality player.."
In the pack, it looks too soon to see the return of star hooker Harry Thacker and Argentina International number eight Santi Grondona, the latter of whom is yet to make his Bears debut having suffered an ACL injury in August, but having had three weeks without a game, battered bodies have been able to be rested despite a 'tasty' full bore inhouse training session last Friday.
"They are still trucking along. Thacker is out training but again we are just taking care with him because of concussion and Santi Grondona is ahead of schedule, he is tracking nicely in the return to play programme."
