When you get your signings right, you don’t have to keep making wholesale changes each season says Pat Lam.
The Bristol Bears head coach continues to shape the squad to his liking, with the Gallagher Premiership club confirming the departure of 11 players yesterday, including Australian flanker George Smith whose one-year contract came to an end, and Samoan international flanker Jack Lam.
So far the club have announced just two new signings ahead of next season, adding England internationals Dave Attwood from Bath and Nathan Hughes from Wasps.
While their two additions have been headline grabbing there has not been the deluge of signings seen last summer ahead of the club’s return to the top flight, adding 21 players having won the Greene King IPA Championship.
However Bristol have agreed new extended deals with several key players including Samoan captain Chris Vui and former All Black Steven Luatua.
Lam said: “I’d say recruitment never stops, it’s ongoing, all the time.
“But the great thing is retention, when you are retaining players that means players have performed, that means players have shown that we have made the right decisions the first time and they’ve made more growth so we want to keep them.
“Retention is important as when you are growing a vision and a community.
“The boys understand, having a year here or two is a big plus to a rugby player compared to someone who is outside wanting to come in but that quite obviously has been performing, good on the field and off the field.
“So I’m really pleased with the amount of guys that have re-signed. Obviously, we have picked up some quality along the way as well.
In fact Lam said too many additions can even upset the balance in the camp he has been working so hard to build.
Lam has always insisted a squad mentality is required for success at this level and that was emphasized on Saturday when a backline of Andy Uren, Callum Sheedy, Sam Bedlow, Piers O’Conor, Tom Pincus, Mat Protheroe and Alapati Leiua helped beat Leicester Tigers 20-23 at Welford Road.
He said: “I mean last time in the Premiership, 36 players had moved on since then but that’s why everyone was so excited about last year, we bought so many in.
“It’s not every year; you’d concern yourself if you bring in so many and then the next year bring in a whole new lot. That means you’ve made wrong decisions.
“We’re really pleased with where a lot of these guys are and what they have done.
“As I said you go through the squad, I said when I signed these players they just needed opportunity. You look at Harry Thacker, Harry Randall, Piers O’Conor, Tom Pincus, all of these boys were unknown and they were playing at a lower level. They just needed opportunity and I’d only give them the opportunity if they did the work. They’ve done the work and now they’re flying.”
