Bristol Bears

Last season's finish: 4th (Lost in semi-final)

Director of Rugby: Pat Lam

Captain: Fitz Harding

Star player: Gabriel Ibitoye

Biggest signing: Tom Jordan

Young player to watch: Benjamin Grondona

For the majority of the 2024/25 season, the Bristol Bears were the biggest challengers to Bath. Unfortunately, their hopes of Premiership glory faded as the season continued as the injuries piled up. Bristol have a number of top quality players but depth is always going to be an issue unless the club is willing to spend up to the salary cap to match the likes of Bath. Their unique, "total rugby" style of play is a key part of the Bristol Bears DNA and it looks like that style is going to continue throughout this season. 

The Bears have made a couple of big-name signings to replace a couple of players who are moving on. Harry Byrne joined the club mid-way through last season, in order to replace the injured AJ MacGinty, after Sam Worsley struggled to make an impression. However, the Irishman has now returned to Leinster which left a gap that needed to be filled. MacGinty is still a good fly half, but he is now 35 and the Bears need a succession plan. Sam Worsley is still highly rated, but he is one for the future. The signing of Tom Jordan fixes this issue but also gives the team a replacement for Max Malins. Malins has returned to Saracens after a decent spell in Bristol which was unfortunately blighted by injuries. Jordan is a versatile player, who has played consistently at fly half for Glasgow in the URC, and has also started at inside centre and fullback for his country. 

The other headline-maker was the signing of Louis Rees-Zammit. The Welshman gave up on his NFL-dream in order to return to the west of England, but not for his former team. The Bears stepped in and used their cap flexibility (a benefit of not meeting the spending limit) in order to bolster their attacking options. This move now means that Pat Lam will have some dilemmas over back line selections. He could look to move Ravouvou back to the centres and shift Van Rensburg back to inside centre with Williams missing out. Whatever he decides to do, Bristol just added another X-factor to a group that already had a plethora of them.

The other theme for the Bears this season will be the development of some young, overseas players. Benjamin Grondona, Luka Ivanishvilli and Pedro Rubiolo will all play big roles this season and provide good value for money, given the countries that they represent. Several clubs across the the league have looked to access the market of young Argentinian players who are generally cheaper than their tier 1 counterparts. Georgians have been a more popular good-value option in France, but there are a couple more in the Prem this year, and I expect that trend to continue.

The Bears look set to have more success this season with a settled side that has added some good quality. They have a good mix of experience, with the likes of Luatua and MacGinty, as well as some exciting youngsters like Benjamin Grondona Pedro Rubiolo. Bristol's depth looks stronger this season but making a run in Europe as well as in the league seems like a big risk without more signings. Other clubs have had a significant churn of players and coaches so Bristol could take advantage of their continuity to get off to a good start this autumn. 

Notable ins:

Tom Jordan(Glasgow Warriors) - Louis Rees-Zammit(Jacksonville Jaguars) - Luka Ivanishvili(Black Lion)

Notable outs:

Max Malins(Saracens) - Siva Naulago(Worcester)- Josh Caulfield(Ealing)

Squad 

(including some senior academy players)

Hooker

Will Capon - Tomas Gwilliam - Gabriel Oghre - Harry Thacker

Prop

Lovejoy Chawatama - Ellis Genge - Sam Grahamslaw - Jimmy Halliwell - George Kloska - Max Lahiff - Sam Scott - Louie Trevett - Jake Woolmore

Lock

Steele Barker - Joe Batley - James Dun - Joe Owen - Will Ramply - Pedro Rubiolo - Ethan Surrey

Back row

Kofi Cripps - John Edwards - Fitz Hardings - Ed Harvey  - Benjamin Grondona - Santiago Grondona - Luka Ivanishvili - Kenzie Jenkins - Steven Luatua - Bill Mata - Paddy Pearce - George Taylor

Scrum half

Keiran Marmion - Max Pepper - Harry Randall - Sam Wolstenholme

Fly half

AJ MacGinty - Tom Jordan - Raff Weston - Sam Worsley

Centre

Toby Baker - Bernhard Janse Van Rensburg - Joe Jenkins - Kalaveti Ravouvou - James Williams - Victor Worsnip

Wing

Josh Carrington - Jack Bates - Aidan Boshoff - Gabriel Ibitoye - Louis Rees-Zammit

Fullback

Benjamin Elizalde - Noah Heward - Rich Lane - Evan Morris

Possible XV and bench

1.Ellis Genge 2.Gabriel Oghre 3.Max Lahiff 4.Joe Batley 5.James Dun

6.Steven Luatua 7.Fitz Harding 8.Bill Mata 9.Harry Randall 10.AJ MacGinty

11.Gabriel Ibitoye 12.Bernhard Janse Van Rensburg 13Kalaveti Ravouvou 14.Louis Rees-Zammit 15.Tom Jordan

Bench

16.Harry Thacker 17.George Kloska 18.Lovejoy Chawatama 19.Pedro Rubiolo

20.Santiago Grondona 21.Luka Ivanishvili 22.Will Marmion 23.Rich Lane