Pat Lam: Bristol's Premiership semi-final loss to Harlequins is 'done and dusted'
- Published
Harlequins staged a second-half comeback to beat Bristol in the Premiership semi-final in June
Bristol Bears head coach Pat Lam says the memory of his side's loss to Harlequins in the Premiership semi-final last season is "done and dusted", before their meeting on Friday.
Despite topping the Premiership table last year, Bristol lost to Quins in the play-offs at Ashton Gate in June.
The Bears threw away a 28-point lead, with Harlequins going on to beat Exeter in the final to be crowned champions.
Quins host Bristol in round four of the Premiership on Friday.
"You're referencing the game itself, you're not referencing the occasion. That's done and dusted, there's nothing you get out of talking about a result," said Lam.
"What you get out is what actually happened in the game, and what we did well in the game and again, what we can do better.
"We took a lot of lessons out of that game, we had the chance to win the game, it could have been very different and we know the reasons why. Now we have an opportunity to go there and go and play a strong Harlequins team."
Bristol beat Harlequins home and away in the league last season, before their semi-final defeat. In that June match they took a 28-5 lead into half-time, only to concede six tries in the second half and extra time.
However Lam says the team dealt with the result in the immediate aftermath, insisting Bristol go into Friday's match without any psychological effects hanging over them.
"The way I see it is that game was nearly three, four months ago. For me it's about the here and the now and Quins on the weekend. That's how you go through the grieving process of any game, is to go through it properly," Lam said.
"Straight in, before the holidays, (we) brought everybody in and said 'right we're going to go through the game'. I'd already cut my clips and everything but I just showed first and foremost the 30 minutes of the first half. I said this is some of the best rugby. And I relayed it back to how we play our game the Bears way.
"And then what I related, when we lost the game, was the second half. We had exactly the same opportunities but suddenly individually, what they did in the first half they didn't do it.
"But the good thing about it, those boys had already told me the night before, after the game, they sent me messages apologising, 'I should have done this, I should have done that'.
"That's what I like, the self-awareness. And I knew, fine, the boys will come through."
Harlequins are unbeaten so far in the Premiership this season, having beaten Newcastle and Worcester in the first two rounds.
Bristol, meanwhile, beat Bath last week in the West Country derby for their first win of the season, having lost their opening two matches against Saracens and Wasps.