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Bristol Bears announce raft of re-signings
By Jon Newcombe
US Eagles fly-half AJ MacGinty, this season's leading points scorer in the Gallagher Premiership, is one of 10 Bristol players to have signed new deals with the club.
The 34-year-old is leading the race to become the first player to 100 league points having taken his tally to 87 in the record 54-24 win at Leicester in round eight last weekend.
MacGinty limped off in that game and Bristol have yet to disclose how long the Irish-born playmaker will be out for, but his decision to stay put at Ashton Gate is great news for the Bears given how important he is to their attacking system.
His replacement on Friday night, Sam Worsley, has also put pen to paper on a new deal, while dynamic hooker Gabriel Oghre, who toured New Zealand with England last summer, also extends his stay with the club.
Powerhouse Argentina back-row Santiago Grondona is another to commit his future, alongside versatile centre James Williams.
Long-serving loosehead prop Jake Woolmore, who has made 161 appearances for the club since arriving from Jersey in 2018, extends his stay with the Bears into a seventh season.
Also penning extensions are highly-rated duo, Jack Bates and Joe Jenkins, who are home-grown products like Worsley, with all three featuring heavily in the Gallagher Premiership and Champions Cup already this season, while current Bristolian Academy forwards Paddy Pearce and Jimmy Halliwell will continue as Bears.
Director of Rugby, Pat Lam, said: “We’re building a squad that can play the Bears way, with a mixture of guys that have been on the journey for a number of years and the addition of some quality international players. But the most exciting part is that we are bringing through a group of homegrown young players who have taken their opportunity through hard work and desire to do well for their community.
“It’s an exciting time to be part of this club, and following the announcements of Tom Jordan and Pedro Rubiolo already, it’s fantastic to see a core group of players - who have been in excellent form - commit their futures early. They want to be part of what we are doing.
“It’s also pleasing to see the power and success of our Academy pathway, with five of today’s announcements current or former Academy players and four – Sam Worsley, Jimmy Halliwell, Paddy Pearce and Joe Jenkins – a part of the 2022 Championship winning Bears U18s side.”
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Latest Comments
Steve Hansen stepped down as ABs coach aged 60, Graham Henry did so at 65, Robbie Deans quit the Wallabies job at 54, and Wayne Smith left the ABs aged 60.
Most of them have had lesser jobs since then, but its only Graham Henry who could really be said to have coached at the top level “well into his 60s”. He’s a bit of an outlier, and that was 14 years ago. Its very possible that that will change, but I’m not seeing much evidence of that!
One factor that might be important is that NBA and the NFL are 1 league sports. Rugby league is pretty much a 2 league sport, and those 2 leagues are so far apart there can’t be much trading between them. Rugby union and especially association football have many more leagues, and so there are more opportunities for younger managers to break through.
Also, the fact that Rugby tends to have less chopping and changing of coaches is an argument against hiring older coaches. Hire a good coach in his 40s and he could stay in the job for 20 years, but realistically how long would Les Kiss be the best coach in Australia for?
Go to commentsI’d probably agree this is a tour too early but Lions do have a rich history of capping bolters and Pollock isnt as far behind as many say. I think you under-estimate his jackle work as he has a great turnover rate at club level and even at England A, he even got one against Wales
Fact is the nature of the game is changing and fast lighter backrows becoming more and more common as ball in play times go up and teams look to play wider. He is faces a challenge to make the initial squad but he is definately part of the conversation
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