Bristol Bears can win the Premiership says Steven Luatua
STEVEN Luatua believes Bristol can became the first West Country team to win the Premiership – if they start where they left off last season.
The Bears were pipped for a place in the play-offs on the final day of the regular season. This was despite piling up 53 points against Harlequins at The Stoop, with Sale winning at Saracens’ StoneX Stadium for the first time.
Bristol won seven of their last eight matches, picking up five bonus points and passing 50 points four times, having lost five matches in a row from the end of October.
They started the campaign with a kicking game but ended it going back to the traditional way of the Bears. This involved attacking from everywhere and running in tries.
Newcastle, their opponents in the opening round at Kingston Park later this month, were hit for 85 points at Ashton Gate.
New season, new challenges
“We were in a very good place at the end of last season,” said Luatua, the New Zealand and Samoa international. He joined Bristol eight seasons ago and is in the final year of his contract.
“The challenge is to continue with that. If we do, we can make the top four.
“Although we have lost some big-name players [Kyle Sinckler and Virimi Vakatawa], new guys have come in and trained really well. You can see their development.”
Luatua handed over the captaincy to Fitz Harding last season, but the 33-year old remains a key member of the club’s leadership group and is a mentor to younger players.
After the losing streak and an exit from the Champions Cup at Connacht, the players were part of a strategic rethink that saw Bristol fall back on old ways.
And results followed.
Playing the right game
“When many of us joined the club, we played in a certain way. We went away from that, and the spark last season came back from us playing rugby again,” he said.
“It works for us. It does not come off every time and there are moments when you are tearing your hair out, but it is good to be a part of. When we went down the kicking path, our execution was not always what it should have been.
“At times the kicks were poor and at others the chase was lacking. When we went back to running the ball, we found were still decent at it and stuck with it.
“That does not mean to say we play only one way.
“After we beat Newcastle and hardly kicked the ball, we won at Leicester by keeping it much tighter and simpler and making good decisions.
“There are times you want to play, but the weather makes it difficult. You have to roll up your sleeves and get on with it, and the balance you have to strike is between kicking and running, making sure that you take the right options.”
Luatua wants Bears stay
When Luatua arrived in Bristol in 2017, he did not expect to be here now.
He still has to decide whether to carry on after the end of the season, but Luatua is as influential today as he was when he joined.
“I fell in love with the city straight away,” he said, “although we were not so good at rugby then.
My wife and I enjoy it here. And as the club grew, we turned out to be decent at rugby and topped the table a few years ago.
“I cannot speak highly enough of how the club has supported me. Look at the facilities we have. My kids were born here and love the place which feels like a home from home.
“Steve Lansdown and Pat Lam are at the helm, and it has been easy to follow them. This is the last year of my contract, but if I can continue, I would like to do so.
“What I really enjoy is when we transfer what we do in training to the pitch, and it was the ability of the boys to be coachable and adaptable that turned last season around.”
Newcastle Falcons trip
Bristol doubled Northampton last season who themselves doubled Exeter who in turn beat Bristol home and away.
Crazy statistics in a crazy season.
“We can say we were the only team to twice defeat the champions, but I would far rather they had done it to us, and we won the title,” said Luatua.
The Bears start in the north-east, and Luatua will be warning against complacency after Newcastle went through last season without a Premiership victory, although they had a number of close contests at home.
“When you start the season away, it is all about getting the win,” he said.
“We put a lot of points on them earlier in the year, but we have new players and so do they. It is a clean slate, and any team coached by Steve Diamond will have a lot of heart.
“He has had time to mould his squad, and they will be up for it. If there is any complacency in our ranks, it will be stamped out very quickly.”
