'Warriors will pose physical challenge' - Lam

The Bears suffered an agonising defeat at the hands of Wasps last weekend, with Tom Willis’ 79^th-minute try snatching the points at the Ricoh Arena – and the Director of Rugby says his side will learn their lessons from the loss.

'Fine margins cost us'

“We were disappointed about last weekend, how we worked our way back into the game (at Wasps) and got ourselves into the lead with 60-odd minutes played, and we had a pretty good review about how we should have closed that game out, so there’s some good learnings,” said Lam.

“But when I think about the group that was out there – and when I named that group against Sale and Wasps last season, we got completely hammered.

“So, it was great to see the growth of that group and I thought mentally and physically, the boys were outstanding. We really took it to them, but unfortunately, just tactically a couple of areas cost us the game.”

'Warriors will be pumped'

The Bears completed the league double over Worcester in 2019/20, including a first win at Sixways in more than 14 years, but Lam is expecting a testing tussle at Ashton Gate on Saturday.

“They are a team that we have struggled with in the past, and thankfully last season we won both games. But at our ground, it was only 13-10 and though we won by a bit more at Sixways, the final score didn’t reflect the physical nature of the game.

“Solly (Alan Solomons) is a fantastic coach and he always gets them pumped for us and we’re expecting a pretty physical contest again.

“Our focus is building on last week and making sure we continue to grow.”