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On 02/05/2019 at 11:05, Gifford said:

I'm a football and Rugby season card holder. I hear that you get 10% off your rugby card if you have a football one.

I've renewed the football one and I'm about to renew the rugby one. Although in the basket it's still showing as full price. Is it just for New Customers?

When you go to pay, it takes the 10% off then. My ticket, OAP, is £140 - £14 = £126.

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On 04/05/2019 at 10:39, CyderInACan said:

Do You? But given that the rugby ones always come out later, the 10% discount you’d get off a City one wouldn’t make it cheaper than an early bird one surely?

Honestly not sure, but someone I sit with at football mentioned he'd got a 10% discount for next season - I assumed it was off of the rugby?

Though maybe 10% off of the total combined price of the two?

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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/may/16/pat-lam-bristol-bears-premiership-the-breakdown

Pat Lam: ‘Being a Bristol Bear is about more than rugby – it’s a vision’

The former Samoa, Newcastle and Northampton No 8 has worked wonders with the Premiership newcomers who have aimed far higher than mere survival this season.

Pat Lam is on the shortlist for the Premiership season’s director of rugby award after steering Bristol not just to safety after winning promotion from the Championship but taking them into the final round this weekend with a chance of securing a place in the Champions Cup.

It is easy to look at Bristol and not go beyond the fact that their owner, Steve Lansdown, is the richest backer of a Premiership club. They have made big-name signings, such as Charles Piutau, and the England No 8 Nathan Hughes is joining next season from Wasps, but Lam, who enjoyed coaching success with Auckland and Connacht, is looking to lay down roots that will serve the club for many years to come rather than splurging out to buy success that would be hard to sustain.

“I am proud of the effort the boys have put in this season, but frustrated at the number of points we dropped,” said Lam before the final match at relegated Newcastle. “We could easily be higher up the table [they are eighth] but the growth of the group is most pleasing. When you come together as a team, it is what you make of the time you have together and the strong relationships we have built have gone a long way to establishing the Bears’ culture.

“A goal of mine this season was to finish it under budget and we have. I am confident that when it comes to spending we will be nowhere near the top. People get confused because they look at what Steve is worth [£1.72bn] and compare it to all the other owners but we all operate under a salary cap. We are way under the cap this season and never once did we threaten to be near it.

“Whenever I am approached about a job, I ask what the vision is. What stood out about Bristol was that Steve and Chris Booy [the chairman] were passionate about making a difference in the community. Rugby is successful when it is about more than rugby. If they had offered me the biggest contract in the world but said that the vision was just to win everything and be dominant, all about rugby success, as other clubs told me, I would not have come because it was not what I am about. When it became about community, inspiration and making a difference, I knew I was in the right place.”

Lam drew up a five-year plan with the aim of establishing Bristol as a regular in the Premiership’s top four and adding a new shelf to the club’s trophy cabinet. His contract is up at the end of next season but he is in talks about extending it as the Bears look to the example of Saracens, who built success rather than bought it, laying down foundations that endure.

“When I came here, 50% of our players were England qualified,” said Lam. “This season it is 70% and it will be 75% in the next one. I am not worried about my contract because I have such a strong relationship with Steve and Chris. We trust each other and I appreciate their support. When we were hammered at Worcester earlier in the season, they reassured me they had my back. We are aligned.

“Laying down roots is the key for all successful teams. You need a core group of guys who understand the culture. If a player comes here just to get paid, he is in the wrong place. Before we sign anyone, we look not just at their rugby ability but their character, their coach-ability and their hunger to succeed based on a dream. It is more than a job. Players here enjoy doing community work because it is part of the vision they were sold on: being a Bristol Bear is about more than rugby.”

Lam’s playing career straddled the amateur and professional eras and as a coach he tries to distil the essence of the former. “Players of my generation were blessed because for the first half of our careers we played for the love of the game while holding down a job and then got paid for doing what we enjoyed. What professionalism did not change was the team effort and sacrifices that have to be made.

“What I loved about rugby as a player was that you were on the field with your best mates, a bond that grew through working hard together. You can think you are having a good time when you are out on the drink but you do not have to play sport to do that. On the field you trust each other and have each other’s back, like the military.

“Professionalism is about the way you do things, not money. We are a high-performance team, not a social club. What I learned as a player with Auckland as an amateur was that the focus has to be on standards. We had the likes of Sean Fitzpatrick, Grant Fox, John Kirwan and the Whetton brothers and the approach was professional. I want Bristol to be a Champions Cup team that wins trophies as well as a club players are picked from by their country. We have to make it as close to an international environment as possible so that people do not step into the England environment and think it is a big climb.

“When I first spoke to Bristol, there were four things I asked for. The first was the management team. It is not about one person: you have to surround yourself with good people and we have. We are holding player and staff reviews next week and we know there are things we could have done better. People are asking where are our signings: we brought in 22 players in my first year and 11 in my second. If you bring in that many every year you are doing something wrong.

“We have Nathan Hughes and Dave Attwood joining. They will bring quality but they have to catch up other players in terms of understanding the club. It won’t take them long but if you had 20 others doing it you would be back to square one. I have been working hard with the academy, ensuring we have local players coming through. That conveyor belt is crucial”

Only four of the 23 who featured in Bristol’s opening match of the season against Bath had been involved in their final match of the 2016-17 season before they were relegated. Lam has recruited internationals such as Piutau, Steven Luatua and George Smith but the campaign has been underpinned by young English players. The example is Saracens, not Toulon, and Bristol will struggle to do better business than Lam.

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1 hour ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Read on their forum that the unreserved seats thing being scrapped or changed. Believe it's the Dolman wings usually? 

Or was, as the case maybe.

Yep the dolman unreserved seating is being scrapped. I think it’s something to do with the large crowds and the unreserved seatin meaning we lose 10% in those areas.

With regards to Pat, biggest resigning of the summer without doubt 

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On 22/05/2019 at 08:41, Mr Popodopolous said:

Read on their forum that the unreserved seats thing being scrapped or changed. Believe it's the Dolman wings usually? 

Or was, as the case maybe.

Gutted about the removal of the unreserved seating in the wings. Makes it much harder to get a bunch of you sat together for the odd game. 

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Great game yesterday as well. 

Luatua and Vui were everywhere, don’t know how they kept it up tbh. Piutau was awesome at times as well. 

Big shout out to piers o’conor though who kept Naiyavoro quiet for nearly all of the game, not many players have done that this season...

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15 hours ago, Super said:

No mention on here but what a great final yesterday. Credit to Sarries and Exeter.

I was there on Saturday, as a guest of Sarries, was a great advert for rugby, nice free bar and food before the game - couldn't get enough down my neck lol

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2 hours ago, CyderInACan said:

Anybody know when the season starts seeing as it;s the World Cup in Autumn isn't it? Is there a break?

@CyderInACan the league Premiership is scheduled to be from 20th October to 20th June when the final will be at Twickenham.

The other leagues will start on 21st September

The odd thing with rugby is that the fixtures get released from the lowest leagues upwards, not like football where it is the top league down

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6 minutes ago, phantom said:

@CyderInACan the league Premiership is scheduled to be from 20th October to 20th June when the final will be at Twickenham.

The other leagues will start on 21st September

The odd thing with rugby is that the fixtures get released from the lowest leagues upwards, not like football where it is the top league down

Cheers mate nice one 

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The draws for the composition of the pools for the 2019/20 Heineken Champions Cup and Challenge Cup will take place at the Centre de Congrès Beaulieu in Lausanne, Switzerland on Wednesday, June 19th.

The key event which starts at 13.00 (UK and Irish time) will be streamed live on www.epcrugby.com.

The draw for the Challenge Cup pools will be followed immediately by the pool draw for the Heineken Champions Cup at approximately 13.20.

Bristol Bears reached the quarter-final stage of last season’s competition, eventually falling to Top 14 giants, La Rochelle at Stade Marcel-Deflandre.

The following clubs have qualified for the 2019/20 Challenge Cup:

TOP 14 – Castres Olympique, Stade Francais Paris, RC Toulon, Bordeaux-Bègles, Pau, Agen, Bayonne, Brive
Gallagher Premiership Rugby – Wasps, Bristol Bears, Worcester Warriors, Leicester Tigers, London Irish
Guinness PRO14 – Scarlets, Cardiff Blues, Edinburgh Rugby, Dragons, Zebre Rugby Club
Qualifiers from Continental Shield – Enisei-STM, Rugby Calvisano

The event comperes in Lausanne will be Sarra Elgan (BT Sport) and Matthieu Lartot (France Télévisions) with Bryan Habana (Channel 4) and Dimitri Yachvili (beIN SPORTS) conducting the draws.

Event: Pool Draws for the Challenge Cup and Heineken Champions Cup
Date: Wednesday 19 June
Time: 13.00 (UK and Irish time) Challenge Cup draw followed by the Heineken Champions Cup draw at 13.20 approximately

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