NEWS EXTRA
LONG-SERVING Bristol lock Joe Joyce finds it hard to believe how far the Premiership leaders have come since he joined the academy as a teenager in 2012.
Senior players were taking pay-cuts, crowds at the ramshackle Memorial Stadium barely topped 4,000 in the Championship and their academy struggled to field a team. Now the Bears can fill 27,000-seat Ashton Gate and, due to the vision of owner Steve Lansdown, are competing for the title.
Bristol-born Joyce, 25, who is three games away from his 100th first XV appearance, said: “Being at the top of the Premiership is impressi...