Bristol Bears: How the team is ‘building a reserve’ and coping with the injury crisis

Lahm has repeatedly said that when a player becomes unavailable, they don’t hold on to what they lost, they look to who is next in line to progress.

Often, that meant calling on academy players to fill in the gaps.

Against Northampton in November, four academy players featured in Round 23.

Hooker Thomas Gwilliam was making his Prem debut, while full-back Aidan Boshoff and prop Jamie Halliwell had made just four Premier League appearances between them. Bristol went on to crush the Saints 46-12.

Likewise, academy fly-half Sam Worsley filled in for McGinty and Scotland international Tom Jordan was absent for five matches during the autumn.

The 22-year-old, who started the season playing for Third Division side Dings Crusaders, scored a last-minute penalty to seal the narrow win over Exeter.

He then scored a try and scored 14 points in the win over Gloucester – one of two matches in which he was named player of the match.

“When young players who haven’t necessarily had a lot of game time step up and put in a performance that leads to a result, it fills the group with confidence about where we are as a whole team,” Harding said.

While fielding so many young players wasn’t necessarily the plan at the start of the season, the sink-or-swim approach has helped create strength in depth now that the season has reached crisis point.

Add to that the players who have returned from injury in recent weeks, and it’s no wonder the mood around Bears camp as the league returns is upbeat.

“The training was delicious [on Wednesday] “And that’s because everyone wants it, and it looks like they’ve got a chance now, too,” Woolmore said.

“No one is happy not to participate. This desire and hunger will only do us a favor as we move forward.”