'Dean Ryan will be relishing the chance to get one over on Bristol Bears'

The latest fan thoughts from Bears Beyond the Gate podcast co-host Pete Brealey

It has been an exhilarating few weeks as Bristol Bears chase a top four finish in the Premiership and despite the 59-35 defeat at Wasps we are still in the hunt.

Although disappointed with the result, to score five tries away from home against a very good Wasps team and come away with a try bonus point has added a silver lining.

However, our attention now turns to the European Challenge Cup quarter-final against the Dragons.

Whilst league games will always be the bread-and-butter of a season, knockout rugby is the tasty side dish! In this case there’s an added bit of spice with the opposition hailing from just over the Severn bridge.

They will be no pushover with a squad sprinkled with internationals and a number of Bristol connections. Many of us will remember the darting runs of Rhodri Williams at scrum-half, the pace of his namesake Jordan in the back three and the power of Ryan Bevington in the engine room.

Moreover, we are also up against the steely personality of ex-Bristol coach and player Dean Ryan. Let us be in no doubt that he will be relishing the chance to get one over his former paymasters!

As a result, I anticipate Pat Lam selecting a very strong side for this game. 

We have a real chance of going deep in this competition given the strength of our squad, the quality of our signings and the confidence that some of our post lockdown performances have given us and a potentially mouth-watering semi-final against Bordeaux Begles which will surely provide extra motivation for our team to slay the Dragons at the Gate on Friday.

One player who definitely won’t be playing is Siale Piatau thanks to his three game ban after the Worcester match.

There has been much debate on social media about the judicial process, in terms of determining the fine line between aggression and self defence and despite Pat Lam’s passionate support of his player, and the subsequent failed appeal, it now appears that the club is satisfied that its concerns have been taken on board and the matter is closed.

Either way, it reminds us that rugby is a game played right on the edge and that is why we love watching it so much. C’mon Bris!

You can listen to Bears Beyond The Gate on all major podcast platforms, including Apple, Spotify and Buzzsprout.