'We were determined to make supporters proud' - Lam

Lam’s men ran in ten tries – five in either half – to thrash a Knights side who last week put 50 points on second-place Ealing to confirm Bristol’s promotion back to the Premiership.

And Lam said his players were determined to put on a show for the biggest crowd of the season.

“We said it all week and the boys were determined to give our community, our supporters – not only the ones that are here, but the ones that couldn’t make it as well or watched it on TV – something to be proud of,” he said.

“We wanted people to be able to celebrate, but we put the focus on celebrating on the field first and foremost through the hard work and the culture and the way we are doing things. We’re extremely happy that we’ve, not only been able to enjoy the night, but have brought Premiership Rugby back to the city for next year.”

A crowd of 13,100 watched Bristol – inspired by Luke Morahan’s quartet of tries – run riot at Ashton Gate, but Lam insists the hard work has only just begun in preparation for the top flight.

“I said to the boys, what we saw out there was probably the minimum – we want to fill that stadium and to do that, we’ve got to continue building the way that we play, and we’ve got to do a lot of work ensure nights like this will just get better and better,” he said.

“It works both ways – our supporters inspire us, and I’ll never forget Rotherham, the snow and the number of fans there - and our passion is to inspire them.

“Tonight, even on the pitch invasion, the number of kids out there in Bristol Rugby shirts, just hugging and then hugging my legs.

“I said: ‘are you going to play for Bristol one day? And they said, ‘yeah we’re going to play for Bristol.’ That’s what it’s all about, but we know there is work to be done.”