Bristol Gallagher Premiership Pat Lam on Virimi Vakatawa: 'class is permanent'
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Bristol boss Pat Lam hailed the returning Virimi Vakatawa’s contribution as his side outmuscled Newcastle 21-13.
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Bristol
Bristol ![Bristol]()
The history of the Bristol rugby side (now known as the Bristol Bears) dates right back to 1888, when the Carlton club merged with rival club Redland Park to create Bristol Rugby Club. The team soon became formidable in the league and, by the 1891-92 season, the Bristol rugby team won 20 out of a possible 24 games. Plus, when the first All Blacks side came to England in 1905, Bristol Rugby Club had the honour of facing them. However, they lost 41-0.
Read on to learn more about the Bristol Bears. On this page, you can view all of the upcoming Bristol Bears fixtures and see the latest news about the team.
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Virimi Vakatawa lifts Bristol over desperate Newcastle
Bristol made it back-to-back Gallagher Premiership wins after producing a gritty away display to beat winless Newcastle 21-13 at Kingston Park.
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The history of the Bristol rugby side (now known as the Bristol Bears) dates right back to 1888, when the Carlton club merged with rival club Redland Park to create Bristol Rugby Club. The team soon became formidable in the league and, by the 1891-92 season, the Bristol rugby team won 20 out of a possible 24 games. Plus, when the first All Blacks side came to England in 1905, Bristol Rugby Club had the honour of facing them. However, they lost 41-0.
Read on to learn more about the Bristol Bears. On this page, you can view all of the upcoming Bristol Bears fixtures and see the latest news about the team.
Fixtures & Results
Tournaments
Bristol Bears Rugby History
By the 1950s, Bristol Rugby Club were setting a trend for rugby in England. Under the captaincy of John Blake, the side played an entertaining style of rugby that was considered years ahead of its time. This great form even continued into the 1970s and 1980s, when the team won the John Player Cup. During this period, the Bristol rugby team was also crowned as the unofficial English and Anglo-Welsh champions and played a game against the Barbarians to celebrate their centenary season.
However, since rugby union became professional in the 1990s, rugby union in Bristol has undergone a rocky period. Financial problems meant that the Bristol rugby side almost folded in the 1990s and, in 1998, they were relegated to Premiership Two (now the RFU Championship). Thankfully, they were promoted back to the Premiership at the first attempt.
However, following a couple of successful seasons and a brief name change to the Bristol Shoguns after a sponsorship deal with Mitsubishi, off-field issues once again took hold at Bristol and the team was relegated again in 2003.
Players
Forwards
Chris Vui Lock 
Daniel Thomas Flanker 7 
Ed Holmes Flanker 6 
Ellis Genge Prop 
Fred Davies Hooker 
Gabriel Oghre Hooker 
Harry Thacker Hooker 
Jake Heenan Flanker 7 
Jake Woolmore Prop 
James Dun Flanker 7 
Joe Batley Lock 
Joe Owen Lock 4 Jono Benz-Salomon Loose Head Prop 
Josh Caulfield Lock 
Kyle Sinckler Tighthead Prop 
Magnus Bradbury Blindside Flanker 
Max Lahiff Loosehead Prop 
Paddy Pearce Lock 4 
Steven Luatua Blindside Flanker Toti Benz-Salomon Loose Head Prop 
Will Capon Hooker 
Yann Thomas Prop Backs
AJ MacGinty Outside Half 
Andrew Turner Fullback 
Benhard Janse van Rensburg Fly half 
Callum Sheedy Fly half Deago Bailey Right Wing 
Fitz Harding 
Gabriel Ibitoye Wing 
George Kloska 
Harry Ascherl 
Harry Randall Scrum half 
Jack Bates 
James Williams Centre 
Jay Tyack Fullback 
Kalaveti Ravouvou Centre 12 
Kieran Marmion Scrum half 
Max Malins Fly Half 
Noah Heward 
Oscar Lennon Scrum half 
Piers O'Conor Centre Ratu Naulago Right Wing 
Richard Lane Fullback 
Sam Grahamslaw 
Sam Wolstenholme 
Santiago Grondona Number 8 
Virimi Vakatawa Wing Bristol Bears Premiership Rugby History
After a brief hiatus, four more seasons in the Premiership followed as Bristol Rugby Football Club, including a third-placed finish in 2006-07. However, the side was relegated once more in 2008-09. This time, there would be no immediate return to the Premiership and the Bristol rugby team played in the RFU Championship until 2016. During this seven-year period, they actually came top of the table on five occasions, but they lost in the play-off final three times and in the semi-finals once.
After a fourth relegation in 2016-17, the Bristol rugby team is now an established Premiership side. Plus, upon their return to the Premiership in 2018, the team even officially rebranded as the Bristol Bears.
The rebrand seems to have changed the fortunes of the traditional yo-yo team. After all, the Bristol Bears have been in the Premiership ever since and, in the 2019-20 season, the team even came third and made it to the semi-final of the play-offs. In the same season, the Bristol Bears even won the European Rugby Challenge Cup for the first time.
