Club: Bristol
Last season: 3rd
Odds for the title: 25/1
Season opener: home v Leicester Tigers, 16 September
Ins
Tom Arscott, Ed Barnes (both Plymouth Albion), Graeme Beveridge (Glasgow), Peter Bracken (London Wasps), Anthony Elliot (Newcastle), Paul Fincken (Dings Crusaders), Ray Hogan (Connacht), Kevin Maggs (Ulster), Haydn Thomas (Gloucester)
Outs
Neil Clark (Cornish All Blacks), Danny Gray, Saul Nelson (both Exeter), Chris Hallam (Rotherham), Geraint Lewis (Pontypridd), Brian Lima (retired), Richard Martin-Redman (London Welsh), Andy Reay (Newbury), Craig Short (retired), Marko Stanojevic (Calvisano), Bernardo Stortoni (released), Justin Wring (Otley)
The player preview
Bristol skipper Matt Salter reveals how the west country outfit are going to follow last term’s stunning form
Well, you made a rod for your own back by being so good last season didn’t you?
Yeah, bit of a problem that. When you look at the league table our points difference was only about six [it was actually four, but close enough!] which meant we won nearly every single tight game. You always sit down at pre season and say what would have happened if we’d won every single close match – we didn’t do that this year because we’d manage to win every bloody one of them! That takes a bit of luck and I think last year things did go our way. With another bit of luck we might be able to emulate but last year was a bit of a hiccup really!
So what was the plan last term?
I think realistically we were looking at about eighth, but we ended up third. This year I think if we follow the original plan then we’ll be looking to aim for the top-half of the table. We just want to qualify for Europe again.
You’ve got a few old boys in the side, is that a worry at all?
It’s always a concern but in terms of injuries whether you’re 25 or 35 you can still get injured. If these boys stay injury free then there shouldn’t be a problem, they bring a lot to the team and we’ve always had a policy of selecting the players that are playing better than everybody else. We’ve got plenty of good youngsters and if they put their hand up and play better than the senior guys then they’ll be starting. Last year, the older guys just played better so, at the moment, it looks like we’ll be wheeling out the 110-plus front row again!
Who surprised you the most last year?
I’d probably say David Lemi (winger) because he’d been on the sevens’ circuit and those skills don’t always translate to fifteens but he became the top try scorer in the Premiership. And then there’s Dan Ward-Smith, he stood out massively and now he’s back from injury I think he’ll bring something different to English rugby like he started to do last year.
England’s loss is your gain then with Dan?
Yeah, he’s a bit disappointed not to be in the squad but I can see why he didn’t get picked. He worked so hard to be in the World Cup, but if he went and broke down then England would be down a player. I’m sure when he does get in though, he’ll really hit the ground running.
Shaun Perry though, living the dream isn’t he?
He was saying the other day that at the last World Cup he was down his old rugby club going for the £5 pint and pie deal and this time he’s playing in it – that’s just great. We always want to bring on young English players but we’ve also found that bringing on established players from the division below has worked – not only Shaun but also the likes of Lee Robinson and Dan Ward-Smith. And to see Shaun become an England international at his age (29) and while playing for Bristol is great. He’s a direct result of how well we played last year. It’s also handy because he was only working as a welder a few years ago and so when a bit falls off the team bus he can put it back on.
And you’ve gone back to National One again for a few of your new signings?
Yeah, we’ve got Tom Arscott (Luke’s brother) and Ed Barnes from Plymouth.
That cost us a bit too [Bristol were fined £20,000 for illegally approaching the pair]. Plymouth finally got sick of us taking their players and had a go at us!
Thanks to last season, you’re not going to surprise anyone are you?
I don’t think we surprised people; we don’t pull too many surprises! But nobody is going to underestimate us and that was the case the season before too – everybody knows what we’re about. We’re just going to back up what we did last year because we know it worked.
It’s hard to improve on third place?
Yeah, we can’t go saying we need to do better than last year because that would mean finishing first or second. That would mean we’d have to be in the Guinness Premiership final and we know as a squad that we’re not quite there yet. The likes of Gloucester and Leicester can compete on all fronts because of the size of the squads. We’ve got maybe 25 to 30 players to call on whereas they’ve got 40 or 50. Our aim is to progress gradually, so mid-table is the aim and anything better is a bonus.
And you’ve not really got a galactico have you?
No, we haven’t. Mark Regan would tell you he is but Shaun Perry is probably our galactico and he’s a bald-headed spot welder from Coventry! That’s about as exciting as we get, he’s our glamour boy!
Supporters’ prediction: 6th. “Hilly’s signed some good guys from the lower leagues, but it’s going to be really tough to do what we did last year, although the World Cup does work in our favour.” David Allen, Bristol
Rucked prediction: 7th. Richard Hill is one of top coaches in the country and will no doubt produces miracles again, but the amount of cash sloshing about the Premiership at the moment means other sides have strengthened their squads more than ever. Respectable but no great shakes.